You can say I'm stuck in a paradigm. I'd say I build my philosophy on scientific foundations. As far as we know, consciousness emerged as life became more complex through evolution.

But as I argue elsewhere, I think philosophy is mainly a kind of storytelling. There are different stories to tell and different perspectives we might adopt. I'd evauate them, though, in aesthetic and pragmatic terms, as opposed to saying with postmodern relativists that all stories are equally good and true.