- Existence exists.
- It has/is identity.
- The conscious entity reading these words exists (as a process).
Well, I could end it there — actually quite a bit of metaphysical richness bubbling away in the pot already. These are the three core metaphysical axioms of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. I have come to agree with them and see them as the basis upon which philosophy can be built, and build well.
Notice that I have deliberately written them in a way that might throw up a couple of contentions. I’m not referring to the seeming tautology of “existence exists” as that’s easily dealt with by grasping what axiom really means.
The first is the equivocation around the axiom of identity: is identity something an existent possesses or is it concomitant to an existent’s being?
Then the second is in grasping consciousness ‘as a process’, and once chewed over and digested, can a process be said to be a thing, an entity?
To the identity question: I think being is a more fitting verb than having.
To the consciousness question: I think an information process is an entity.
Indeed, over the next few monthly posts I’ll be exploring how every ‘thing’ may turn out to be a matter of processes — being as process.
What do you think?