Th aid the description of how synthesis is supposed to work, Kitcher (1990, pp.l17-123) calls mental states that result from synthesis "synthetic products" and the ingredients used in this production "synthetic progenitors". Furthermore, because cognition is continuous,

any synthetic product is a potential synthetic progenitor, while every synthetic progenitor must itself have been a synthetic product. As she puts it (1990, p.l19), "cognitive states belong to one consciousness just in case they are connectable by synthesis with a set of states already connected by synthesis, and all such states are connected with each other". Or in Kant's own words, "As my cognitive states (even ifl am not conscious of them as such) they must conform to the condition under which alone they can stand together in one universal self-consciousness, because otherwise they would not without exception belong to me" (Kant, translated by Kitcher, 1990, p.119; original italics).