Consciousness Representationalism and the Self- Representational Theory of Consciousness

Abstract

According to Consciousness representationalism (CR), the qualitative character of a conscious experience is captured by its representational content. The Representational theory of consciousness (RTC) and the Higher-order approach to consciousness (HOAC) are the two main versions of CR. RTC is faced with some notorious problems suggesting that HOAC is preferable. I argue that standard versions of the latter are faced with an intolerable infinite regress. I propose a non-standard version of the HOAC, the Self-Representational theory of consciousness (SRTC), as a way to overcome that problem. I distinguish various interpretations of SRTC and argue in support of the interpretation according to which the (self)-representational content is a de re proposition.