Editing Objectivism (section)

=== Metaphysics: objective reality ===
Rand's philosophy begins with three [[axiom]]s: existence, consciousness, and [[Law of identity|identity]].<ref>{{harvnb|Peikoff|1991|pp=4–11}}</ref> Rand defined an axiom as "a statement that identifies the base of knowledge and of any further statement pertaining to that knowledge, a statement necessarily contained in all others whether any particular speaker chooses to identify it or not. An axiom is a proposition that defeats its opponents by the fact that they have to accept it and use it in the process of any attempt to deny it."<ref>{{harvnb|Rand|1992|p=1040}}.</ref> As Objectivist philosopher [[Leonard Peikoff]] argued, Rand's argument for axioms "is not a proof that the axioms of existence, consciousness, and identity are true. It is proof that they are ''axioms'', that they are at the base of knowledge and thus inescapable."<ref>{{harvnb|Peikoff|1991|p=11}}</ref>

Rand said that ''existence'' is the perceptually self-evident fact at the base of all other knowledge, i.e., that "existence exists". She further said that to be is to be ''something'', that "existence ''is'' identity". That is, to be is to be "an entity of a specific nature made of specific attributes".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rand|first=Ayn|title=For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand|date=1996 |orig-date=1961|publisher=Signet|isbn=0-451-16308-7|location=New York}}</ref> That which has no nature or attributes does not and cannot exist. The axiom of existence is conceptualized as differentiating something from nothing, while the law of identity is conceptualized as  differentiating one thing from another, i.e., one's first awareness of the law of non-contradiction, another crucial base for the rest of knowledge. As Rand wrote, "A leaf ... cannot be all red and green at the same time, it cannot freeze and burn at the same time... [[A is A]]."<ref>{{harvnb|Rand|1992|p=1016}}.</ref> Objectivism rejects belief in anything alleged to transcend existence.<ref>{{harvnb|Peikoff|1991|pp=31–33}}</ref>

Rand argued that consciousness is "the faculty of perceiving that which exists". As she put it, "to be conscious is to be conscious of ''something''", that is consciousness itself cannot be distinguished or conceptualized except in relation to an independent reality.<ref>{{harvnb|Peikoff|1991|p=5}}</ref> "It cannot be aware only of itself—there is no 'itself' until it is aware of something."<ref name="Gotthelf">{{harvnb|Gotthelf|2000}}</ref> Thus, Objectivism posits that the mind does not create reality, but rather, it is a means of discovering reality.<ref name="ITOE">{{harvnb|Rand|1990}}</ref> Expressed differently, existence has "primacy" over consciousness, which must conform to it. Any other type of argument Rand termed "the primacy of consciousness", including any variant of metaphysical subjectivism or theism.<ref>{{harvnb|Rand|1982|pp=24–28}}</ref>

Objectivist philosophy derives its explanations of action and [[Causality|causation]] from the axiom of identity, referring to causation as "the law of identity applied to action".<ref>{{harvnb|Rand|1992|p=1037}}</ref> According to Rand, it is entities that act, and every action is the action of an entity. The way entities act is caused by the specific nature (or "identity") of those entities; if they were different, they would act differently. As with the other axioms, an implicit understanding of causation is derived from one's primary observations of causal connections among entities even before it is verbally identified and serves as the basis of further knowledge.<ref>{{harvnb|Peikoff|1991|p=14}}</ref>