Today, I’m continuing my exploration of Objectivism the Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Leonard Peikoff. We’ve established the value that philosophy adds and why one should care about it. Next, the book moves onto Chapter 1 which is all about reality. And for the first topic, we move onto the basic fundamental philosophical axioms.
What is an Axiom?
Before we delve into identifying the axioms, it’s helpful to know what exactly an axiom is. An axiom is a truth that is the fundamental starting point of any other knowledge.
Axioms are not subject to proof or validation, as the concept of a ‘proof’ or of ‘validation’ presupposes them. In other words, if you were to try and construct an argument that an axiom were actually false or invalid, you would (unavoidably) rely on the axiom to be true and valid in order to construct your argument.
Three Basic Axioms
According to Objectivism, there are three axioms fundamental to philosophy. They are Existence, Consciousness, and Identity.
Existence – The axiom of Existence very simply states that “there is something”. In other words, there is some world out there. When I open my eyes, or pay attention to what I hear, I know that there is something out there.
Consciousness – The axiom of Consciousness is implicitly stated in the axiom of Existence. When I say “there is something”, what I am really saying is that “there is something, of which I am aware.” In other words, I cannot recognize the axiom of Existence without also recognizing that I am aware of that existence, and thus that I am conscious – i.e. I am aware of existence.
Identity – The axiom of Identity is also implicit in the axiom of Existence. It is that “there is something.” In other words, when I look out at the world, I can distinguish this thing from that thing, this sound from that sound, or this patch of light from that patch of light. At a base level, I can distinguish myself from what else is out there.
Corollary Axioms
Next, there are two axioms that Objectivism considers corollary to the basic three axioms. They are the axioms of Entities and Causality.
Entities – The axiom of Entities states that entities are the unique existents in reality. In other words, they are the things that exist, and they have a specific nature with specific qualities. When we distinguish this thing from that thing, we are distinguishing between two or more different entities. In this way, I think this axiom is a corollary of Identity.
Causality – The axiom of Causality states that every action is the action of an entity. The cause of an action is the entity that is performing the action. And, according to the axiom of Identity, each entity must act in accordance with its nature. For example, a squirrel may not grow roots, and a tree may not chase nuts.
A Note on Causality
While four of those axioms make a lot of sense to me, the Objectivist understanding of causality deserves special focus, as I found it surprising. Prior to this understanding, I thought of causality as something like the following. Every action must have a causal action that precedes it in time. So actions are caused by other actions.
The idea that actions are caused by entities is something new to me, and it’s going to take some time to fully get my head around it.
Peikoff identifies that this “skipping a step” is something almost ubiquitous in philosophy since the time of the Renaissance. I don’t know anywhere near enough in the history of philosophy to have an opinion on that myself, so I’ll defer to the author on this point.
In effect, he claims that in the classic example of cause and effect, of one billiard ball striking another, philosophers have incorrectly identified that the motion of the second billiard ball is caused by the motion of the first. And he claims instead that the motion of the second billiard ball is caused by the fact that it is a billiard ball. To this point, he states that if you doubt this, then simply try the experiment with something other than a billiard ball, such as a soap bubble.
In any event, it is an interesting take on cause and effect. It’s going to take some time to fully grok it, and it’ll be interesting to see the ramifications of this understanding as I go forward.
Ryan Sawatzky 