1 - Preface - Epistemological self-consciousness

Here I talk about my book based on my PhD thesis - "Epistemological Self-Consciousness". Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with how you know - but when you talk about "how" you know you then have to talk about "what" you know - which means you need some metaphysics to define reality, those objects which are the target of your theory of knowledge. However, your very conception of "real" or of an "object" is pretheoretical, you are making metaphysical assumptions to even get your theory of knowledge off the ground. There seems to be a circular relationship that prevents us from making any progress in philosophy. Most importantly, you then have to decide how to live your life in response to how you conceive and perceive reality - your ethics, but if there is no progress possible in discerning reality or understanding it, "let us eat, drink, and party for tomorrow we die!" Much modern philosophy denies any coherence is possible, all is situational, subjective and relative.

However, my position is that such a philosophy is no philosophy at all. My book explores metaphysics, epistemology and ethics - and how we tie all these together in a coherent and non-arbitrary manner. My argument is that Christian metaphysics allows us to anchor our worldview but more than that, if we make any sense of the world at all by using logic, we are assuming Christian metaphysics - whether or not we realise it - "Atheism assumes theism". The argument of my book is that once you become self-conscious of your assumptions, it inevitably leads you to the Christian worldview.

In this video I talk about my personal journey, the general background to my studies and what led me to write the book. This is like the preamble to a series of videos I will produce talking about the book. You can find a draft at https://planetmacneil.org/blog/epistemological-self-consciousness/. Please leave comments to register your interest or to ask questions, I will endeavour to answer as many as I possibly can!