Consciousness, Attention, and Working Memory An Empirical Evaluation of Prinz's Theory of Consciousness

A popular issue in mind is to explain why conscious mental states are conscious. Prinz (2012) defends three claims in an effort to make such an explanation: (i) mental states become conscious when and only when we attend to them; (ii) attention is a process by which mental states become available to working memory; so (iii) mental states are conscious when and only when they become available to working memory. Here I attack Prinz's theory, made explicit in (iii), by showing that there is strong empirical reason to doubt each of the foregoing claims. I rehearse defences of the claims Prinz has made, as well as possible replies he does not explicitly employ, and show how they are inadequate to save his view.