The crucial difference between metaphysics and epistemology

If someone claims that X exists, where X could be, for instance, unicorns, that person is making an ontological statement, that is a statement about what does or does not exist. Ontology is a branch of the broader field of metaphysics, which is concerned with our understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. Part of that understanding, naturally enough, are statements about what is / is not part of that reality.

Now, if you say that unicorn exists, I am well within my rights to ask you: how do you know? In other words, I am asking you to provide your epistemic warrant for such an assertion. Epistemology, then, is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature of knowledge.

Nice. Now, why on earth am I telling you this? Because people, including some professional philosophers, seem confused about the relationship between metaphysics and epistemology. And this confusion leads to all sorts of misunderstandings. Take, for instance, a recent discussion I’ve had over at Letter.wiki with my colleague Philip Goff, concerning the suddenly controversial topic of panpsychism.

Panpsychism comes in a variety of flavors, but one of its basic assertions is that consciousness is an elemental property of the universe. It isn’t entirely clear what this means, but apparently it doesn’t mean…