American philosopher who developed the higher-order thought (HOT) theory of consciousness — a mental state is conscious if and only if the subject has a higher-order thought about it.
Higher-order thought theory: a first-order mental state (a perception, a thought) is conscious when there is a higher-order thought representing it. This explains why we can have unconscious mental states and why consciousness is not intrinsic to any mental state. Naturalizes consciousness by reducing it to a relational property.
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