What this is

Theories of consciousness try to say what makes a mental state conscious. PhilPapers groups them as: Representationalism; Higher-Order Theories (higher-order thought, higher-order perception, self-representational); Functionalist Theories (incl. Dennett); Biological Theories (incl. Searle’s biological naturalism, mind–brain identity); and Panpsychism. Higher-order theories explain the conscious/unconscious difference by a relation between a state and a higher-order representation of it (SEP, Carruthers & Gennaro, revised Jan 2026).

Current conversations

• Actualist vs dispositionalist higher-order thought theory — SEP §4–5
• Self-representational and hybrid theories — SEP §6; Uriah Kriegel, Subjective Consciousness: A Self-Representational Theory (OUP 2009)
• Objections: targetless HOTs, the problem of the rock, animals and infants, explaining phenomenal consciousness — SEP §7
• HOT theory and the prefrontal cortex — SEP §8

Suggested learning path

1. SEP: Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness
2. Kriegel, Subjective Consciousness: A Self-Representational Theory (in Readings) · Kriegel's profile
3. SEP: Self-Consciousness
4. Lectures: to research

My thoughts

Notes here.

Discussion

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Media

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Sources

• PhilPapers: Theories of Consciousness · SEP: Higher-Order Theories