Epistemic Authority: What Ontology Leaves Unresolved

Abstract: This essay examines what happens when ontological revision is not matched by corresponding revision of epistemic assumptions. Specifically: if consciousness-first metaphysics is adopted, but standards of evidence and epistemic authority remain calibrated for physicalism, the result is an unstable hybrid—idealist ontology operating under physicalist epistemology. Part of the Return to Consciousness research program—18 philosophical essays exploring consciousness-first metaphysics. Full project: https://brunoton.github.io/return-to-consciousness/