David M. Rosenthal
Department of Philosophy / Cognitive Science, CUNY Graduate Center
Functionalist What matters is the organisation of the processing, not the material
David M. Rosenthal is Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics and Coordinator of the Cognitive Science Concentration at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He is the originator and principal developer of the Higher-Order Thought (HOT) theory of consciousness.
In Consciousness and Mind (Oxford University Press, 2005) and extensive foundational papers, Rosenthal argued that a mental state becomes conscious through the occurrence of a concurrent, non-inferential higher-order thought asserting that one is in that state. Rosenthal established the critical distinction between creature consciousness (being awake vs. asleep), transitive consciousness (being conscious of an object), and state consciousness (a mental state being conscious).
Rosenthal’s HOT theory is purely functionalist and representational, providing a direct computational blueprint for AI. Artificial consciousness requires implementing metacognitive representational states that represent the system’s own lower-level cognitive states in a suitable asserted format.
Known for. Higher-Order Thought (HOT) actualist theory of consciousness, Consciousness and Mind (Oxford University Press, 2005), intransitive vs. transitive consciousness
Coverage on this site
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David M. Rosenthal is listed with the other functionalists and computationalists, who hold that what matters is the organisation of the processing, not the material. The theory family behind that position is set out in the index of consciousness theories. Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers.