Insofar as the epistemic component consists of logic, physics can’t say what that logic is ontologically. On the other hand, it can describe how brain states are linked to physical states, which should be sufficient to explain materialistic-observations.
That said, I agree that starting with subjective experience as our initial foundations is in one sense more empirical than starting with the external world as we can derive the external world’s existence from patterns in subjective experience.
Insofar as the epistemic component consists of logic, physics can’t say what that logic is ontologically. On the other hand, it can describe how brain states are linked to physical states, which should be sufficient to explain materialistic-observations.
Circularity is inevitable (I like the arguments in Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom), so this isn’t as problematic as it seems.
That said, I agree that starting with subjective experience as our initial foundations is in one sense more empirical than starting with the external world as we can derive the external world’s existence from patterns in subjective experience.