Head to head
Hoffman’s Conscious Realism vs Higher-Order Thought Theory
Hoffman’s Conscious Realism: The Case Against Reality and Rosenthal’s Higher-Order Thought, compared field by field from their entries in the Atlas.
At a glance
- Hoffman’s Conscious Realism belongs to the Idealism family in Kuhn's Landscape of Consciousness, Higher-Order Thought Theory to Materialism.
- Hoffman’s Conscious Realism treats consciousness as fundamental; Higher-Order Thought Theory treats it as emergent.
- On AI consciousness, Hoffman’s Conscious Realism says “Likely” and Higher-Order Thought Theory says “Possible”.
- On life after death, Hoffman’s Conscious Realism says “Likely” and Higher-Order Thought Theory says “No”.
- On mind uploading, Hoffman’s Conscious Realism says “Likely” and Higher-Order Thought Theory says “Possible”.
- On meaning and purpose, Hoffman’s Conscious Realism says “Cosmic/Ultimate” and Higher-Order Thought Theory says “Humanistic only”.
Add more theories to this comparisonCompare other theories
The claim
In brief
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismThis theory asserts that evolution selects for survival and reproductive fitness, not for veridical perception of reality; consequently, spacetime and physical objects function merely as an 'interface' or illusion guiding adaptive behavior. Ultimate reality is fundamentally composed of interacting conscious agents and their experiences, which are primary to, and generative of, the physical world.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryDavid Rosenthal holds that a mental state is conscious when its subject has a higher-order thought that he or she is in that state, a thought that need not itself be conscious and does not seem to rest on inference. Mental qualities such as the redness of a sensation exist whether or not they are conscious; Rosenthal explains them separately, by how they map the perceptible properties we can discriminate.
What consciousness is
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismConsciousness is identified as the fundamental reality, structured as a vast social network of interacting 'conscious agents' and their experiences.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryA state’s being conscious consists in the subject being aware of it by way of a suitable higher-order thought that one is in that state.
Big questions
Can AI be conscious?Differ
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismLikelyAs consciousness is fundamental (Idealism), it is not restricted to biological matter. If an artificial system achieves the organizational complexity characteristic of a 'conscious agent', it could potentially tap into the fundamental consciousness field, regardless of its physical substrate.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryPossibleSince consciousness depends on having suitable higher-order thoughts about one’s own states, a system able to form such thoughts would meet the condition in principle.
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismLikelySince consciousness is fundamental and generates the physical interface, the individual conscious agent is likely to persist beyond the disintegration of the biological body/interface.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryNoConscious states are natural states of an organism, so nothing remains conscious once those states stop occurring.
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismLikelyIf the brain is merely an interface for fundamental consciousness, virtual immortality becomes a matter of reproducing the necessary structures or functions (the 'icon' or interface) needed to manifest the individual conscious agent in a non-biological medium.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryPossibleIf the relevant first-order states and higher-order thoughts were reproduced, the view gives no principled reason the copy would lack consciousness.
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismCosmic/UltimateIdealism fundamentally supports ultimate meaning and purpose. Reality is composed of interacting conscious agents whose existence and actions (influencing other agents) imply inherent value and purpose.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryHumanistic onlyThe theory is a naturalistic account of mental states and carries no cosmic purpose.
Nature of mind
Ontology
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismIdealism
Higher-Order Thought TheoryPhysicalism (naturalistic functionalism)
Mind and body
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismConsciousness is fundamental and creates spacetime and objects, reversing the conventional arrow of causation. Brain activity correlates with mental states because consciousness creates the brain activity/physical world interface.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryMental states, their qualities, and the higher-order thoughts that make them conscious are all natural states of the organism; Rosenthal expects neural correlates of consciousness to be whatever mechanism produces the higher-order awareness.
Fundamental or emergent
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismPrimitive
Higher-Order Thought TheoryEmergent
Qualia
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismQualia are implied to be the fundamental experiences inherent to the conscious agents, which are then translated into simplistic icons (like colors or objects) within the spacetime interface.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryMental qualities are fixed by their role in perceptual discrimination and occupy a ‘quality space’ that mirrors the similarities among perceptible properties. Because these qualities do not depend on consciousness, a sensation can have qualitative character without being conscious, as in subliminal perception.
How it works
Mechanism
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismThe principle of evolution favoring fitness over veridical perception leads to the construction of a simplified, illusionary 'interface' (spacetime and physical objects) that guides adaptive behavior.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryA non-inferential higher-order thought that one is in a given state, which makes that first-order state conscious even when the thought itself is unconscious.
Where it is
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismConsciousness is fundamental in the universe. It is not a product of space and time or anything inside space and time; spacetime is merely a format for conscious experiences (the interface).
Higher-Order Thought TheoryNot stated
What it does
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismConsciousness is causally fundamental. The functional role of the perceived physical world is solely to enhance fitness and reproductive success by guiding behavior.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryNot stated
Evidence and criticism
Testability
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismHighly speculative/ontological. Conceptually testable via the mathematical formulation of consciousness agents. Empirical evidence relies on common perceptual illusions (reinterpreted to support Idealism).
Higher-Order Thought TheoryConceptually testable
Tests so far
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismNot stated
Higher-Order Thought TheoryNot stated
Criticisms
Hoffman’s Conscious RealismCriticized for interpreting empirical evidence (like user illusions) diametrically opposite to materialist accounts (such as Dennett's and Graziano's eliminative materialism). It requires reversing the conventional causal relationship between brain and mind.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryFirst-order theorists argue that higher-order awareness is an unneeded extra ingredient, and deflationists say being aware of a conscious state is like ‘smiling a smile’. Rosenthal replies that a deflated awareness cannot explain the contrast between conscious and unconscious states.
Sources
Key sources
Hoffman’s Conscious Realism
- The Case against Reality: How Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes, D. Hoffman (2019)
- Conscious realism and the mind-body problem, D. Hoffman (2008)
- Fact, fiction, and fitness, C. Prakash, C. Fields, D.D. Hoffman, R. Prentner, M. Singh (2020)
Higher-Order Thought Theory
- Rosenthal’s Higher-Order Thought, Landscape of Consciousness, David Rosenthal (2005)