In the history of philosophy—with some very rare exceptions—epistemological
theories have . . . taught either that knowledge is impossible (skepticism) or
that it is available without effort (mysticism). These two positions appear to
be antagonists, but are, in fact, two variants on the same theme, two sides of
the same fraudulent coin: the attempt to escape the responsibility of rational
cognition and the absolutism of reality—the attempt to assert the primacy of
consciousness over existence. . . .
The mystic is usually an exponent of the intrinsic (revealed) school
of epistemology; the skeptic is usually an advocate of epistemological
subjectivism.