If you grasp firmly the meaning and the difference of these two concepts, “something” and “nothing,” you have grasped the two broadest fundamentals of philosophy: existence and non-existence. To be nothing means: not to exist. To exist means: to be something. To be something means: to be something specific, as distinguished from the blank of nothing. To be something specific means: to be a thing of a certain kind, of a certain nature, of a certain identity. The identity of a thing is that which it is. The Law of Identity states: that which is, is what it is. A thing is itself. A is A. Not to possess an identity, not to possess a nature, not to be anything in particular means: not to be anything, which means: not to exist. To be, is to be something. The Law of Identity is an axiom. It is the abstract statement of a self-evident truth. It is given directly in immediate awareness or immediate perception. It is not inferred or deduced, nor does it need to be. It is known immediately. It is implicit in man’s first sensory perceptions and in all the knowledge man can ever gain. To perceive that a chair and a table exist, is to know that a chair is the chair, and a table is the table. To learn that an electron exists, is to know that the electron is itself. The concept of “existence” and the concept of “identity,” therefore, cannot be divorced. To be aware of one is to be aware of the other. They can only enter the mind together. They are indivisible, in reality and in consciousness. To know anything is to know that that which is, is what it is. (The Basic Principles of Objectivism by Nathaniel Branden)

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