[Revised entry by Peter Carruthers and Rocco Gennaro on January 9, 2026.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, HOT-figure.svg, figdesc.html]
Higher-order theories of consciousness try to explain the difference between unconscious and conscious mental states in terms of a relation obtaining between the conscious state in question and a higher-order representation of some sort (either a higher-order perception of that state, or a higher-order thought about it). What is it that makes an otherwise unconscious mental state a conscious state? According to higher-order theories, what makes a mental state (M) conscious is a higher-order representation directed at M. The most challenging…