David Rosenthal

David M. Rosenthal is an American philosopher whose work in philosophy of mind and philosophy of language has been centered on the theory of consciousness. His most influential contribution is the development of higher-order thought (HOT) theory, which he first articulated in detail in the 1980s and has defended and refined over several decades. Rosenthal's version of HOT theory holds that a mental state becomes conscious when it is accompanied by a higher-order thought that represents oneself as being in that state — not merely a higher-order perception or a functional availability, but a genuine thought about the first-order state.

The specificity of Rosenthal's formulation distinguishes it from related views. Unlike higher-order perception theories (which posit a quasi-perceptual monitoring of mental states), Rosenthal's theory insists that the higher-order state must be a thought — a conceptual representation — and that it must represent the first-order state as belonging to oneself. A pain is conscious not when it is merely attended to or monitored, but when one thinks that one is in pain.

Rosenthal has addressed the most pressing objections to HOT theory with characteristic precision. The empty