 Since a direct checking procedure is ruled out we need a more theory-driven way of assessing the dispute between those who claim that the consequence of not attending to an item is that the item drops out of conscious experience and those who claim that inattention simply puts the subject in a poor epistemic position vis-à-vis these unattended items. The current state of our theories is such that it would be premature to try to settle this dispute by an inference to the best explanation, since neither side of the dispute has a theory of the attention/consciousness relation that has been worked out to a degree that would allow the different explanations to be compared. We can, however, see some of the considerations that the two sides in this debate might invoke. Those who endorse the idea that attention is necessary for consciousness can point to the fact that this view accords well with theories in which attention features prominently in the explanation of consciousness (e.g., Prinz, 2005, 2012). They may also be able to develop arguments based on theories of the way in which consciousness and attention evolved (Montemayor &amp; Haladjian, 2015). Those who prefer the epistemic-deficit interpretation of the inattentional blindness effects (Mole, 2011, §7.3.7) can point to the fact that that interpretation flows naturally from the view according to which attention to an item provides the sort of acquaintance that is needed for the use of a demonstrative concept that refers to that item (a view advocated by Campbell, 2002, and discussed in section  3.2  below): If attention to the gorilla is necessary for the forming of a demonstrative-involving thought (such as ‘That’s a gorilla’) then there is an immediate explanation, consistent with the idea that unattended items nonetheless feature in consciousness, for the fact that inattentive people are unable to answer questions such as ‘Was there a gorilla?’.