The Identity of Consciousness as the Root of Epistemology

The standard attacks on man’s consciousness by it’s identity all undercut epistemology at its foundation—that consciousness has identity, that it is what it is, is the fundamental principle from which the rest of epistemology springs.

Every process of knowledge involves two crucial elements: the object of cognition and the means of cognition—or: What do I know? and How do I know it? The object (which is studied by the special sciences) is always some aspect of reality; there is nothing else to know. The means (which is studied by epistemology) pertains to the kind of consciousness and determines the form of cognition.

The start of a proper epistemology lies in recognizing that there can be no conflict between these elements.

Contrary to the skeptics of history, the fact of a means cannot be used to deny that the object of cognition is reality. Contrary to the mystics, the fact that the object is reality cannot be used to deny that we know it by a specific, human means.

The “how” cannot be used to negate the “what,” or the “what” the “how”–not if one understands that A is A and that consciousness is consciousness.¹