Epistemology as Dependent Upon the Fallibility of a Conceptual Consciousness

Epistemology provides man with guidance for his cognitive faculty, it tells man that he can gain knowledge only through specific means, not how ever he feels. Existence has primacy for all animals, of course, but man specifically has a conceptual consciousness, which leads to a very important fact: his mind is not automatic or infallible.

Given that man can err--that he can detatch his thinking from reality--means that man needs to discover a method of cognition, he needs to know how to use his mind and how to distinguish truth from falsehood, how to validate those conclusions he reaches. Namely, man needs epistemology.

Epistemology is the science that tells a fallible, conceptual consciousness what rules to follow in order to gain knowledge of an independent reality. Without such a science, none of man's conclusions, on any subject, could be regarded as fully validated. There would be no answer to the question: how do you know?^[1]

It is because man's consciousness is fallible that he requires epistemology: if man's consciousness was automatic, he would have no possibility of using a method of validation; if it was infallible, he would have no need for such a method.