ABSTRACT
The higher-order thought (HOT) theory of consciousness asserts that a mental state is conscious if it is the object of a thought about it. The physicalist account of non-conscious mind solves the whole mind-body problem. HOT theory makes substantial assumptions. It assumes that the mind's contents divide into the intentional and the non-intentional. HOT theory promises a mentalistic reduction of consciousness to non-conscious mental states in the hope that a naturalistic treatment of the latter will be relatively easy to find. HOT theory could then explain what makes a state conscious: a mental state is a conscious state if it is the object of a thought with the content that the subject is in α HOT theory might then even solve the generation problem. In the end, the only characterization of the 'suitable' higher-order thoughts is simply that they are the ones that confer consciousness.
