Head to head
Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism vs Higher-Order Thought Theory
Analytic Idealism and Rosenthal’s Higher-Order Thought, compared field by field from their entries in the Atlas.
At a glance
- Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism belongs to the Idealism family in Kuhn's Landscape of Consciousness, Higher-Order Thought Theory to Materialism.
- Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism treats consciousness as fundamental; Higher-Order Thought Theory treats it as emergent.
- On AI consciousness, Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism says “No” and Higher-Order Thought Theory says “Possible”.
- On life after death, Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism says “Likely” and Higher-Order Thought Theory says “No”.
- On mind uploading, Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism says “No” and Higher-Order Thought Theory says “Possible”.
- On meaning and purpose, Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism says “Cosmic/Ultimate” and Higher-Order Thought Theory says “Humanistic only”.
Add more theories to this comparisonCompare other theories
The claim
In brief
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismAnalytic Idealism is a consciousness-only ontology asserting that phenomenal consciousness is fundamental, the singular primitive of reality. Everything else in nature, including the physical world and individual minds, is grounded in patterns of excitation or expressions of this spatially unbound cosmic consciousness.
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
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismConsciousness is identified as the singular, spatially unbound, fundamental ontological primitive (cosmic consciousness).
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
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismNoKastrup suggests conscious AI is a fantasy, arguing that consciousness is not reducible to computation or information processing that current computers perform. Consciousness is tied to fundamental phenomenal reality, not hardware function.
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.
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismLikelyBodily death is predicted to result in the cessation of the local boundary (dissociated alter), causing conscious inner life to expand back into the underlying universal consciousness. This is supported circumstantially by reports of near-death experiences (NDEs).
Higher-Order Thought TheoryNoConscious states are natural states of an organism, so nothing remains conscious once those states stop occurring.
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismNoConsciousness is not an algorithm or software program reducible to physical structure; therefore, uploading neural patterns (simulated continuation) would only result in a functional duplication ('deep fake') lacking true subjective experience.
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.
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismCosmic/UltimateAs consciousness is ultimate reality, existence is fundamentally grounded in mind/awareness, intrinsically providing meaning and purpose rooted in the singular, fundamental consciousness.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryHumanistic onlyThe theory is a naturalistic account of mental states and carries no cosmic purpose.
Nature of mind
Ontology
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismIdealism (Modern analytic metaphysics)
Higher-Order Thought TheoryPhysicalism (naturalistic functionalism)
Mind and body
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismIndividual minds are dissociated alters of the cosmic consciousness. The inanimate physical world is the extrinsic view of thoughts and emotions within this universal consciousness, meaning a physical world independent of consciousness is a mistaken intellectual abstraction.
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
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismPrimitive (Fundamental)
Higher-Order Thought TheoryEmergent
Qualia
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismQualia are intrinsically real and fundamental, constituting patterns of excitation within the fundamental phenomenal consciousness.
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
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismThe principle of dissociation, which localizes the unitary cosmic consciousness into seemingly isolated subjects (alters).
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
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismUbiquitous; consciousness is fundamental and spatially unbound. Individual conscious subjects are localized boundary conditions (dissociated alters).
Higher-Order Thought TheoryNot stated
What it does
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismCausation is grounded in consciousness itself. The inanimate world is the extrinsic manifestation of universal mentation, while the brain serves to constrain or mediate individual consciousness.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryNot stated
Evidence and criticism
Testability
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismSpeculative/Conceptual. Testable primarily by demonstrating the incoherence or lack of parsimony of rival metaphysical theories and by predicting experiential outcomes in extreme states.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryConceptually testable
Tests so far
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismCites neuroimaging of psychedelic states (rich experience correlating with reduced brain activity) to critique physicalist theories.
Higher-Order Thought TheoryNot stated
Criticisms
Kastrup’s Analytic IdealismThe main critical challenge is the 'decomposition problem': explaining how seemingly distinct phenomenal inner lives of subjects can arise within a fundamentally unitary phenomenal field. Also must reconcile the independence of the common external world from personal volition.
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
Kastrup’s Analytic Idealism
- An ontological solution to the mind-body problem (2017)
- The universe in consciousness (2018)
- Analytic Idealism: A Consciousness-Only Ontology, Dissertation (2019)
Higher-Order Thought Theory
- Rosenthal’s Higher-Order Thought, Landscape of Consciousness, David Rosenthal (2005)