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Existence Exists

That existence1 exists is the most fundamental axiom in all of philosophy, and any deviation from having this at the root leads to utter disaster.

We begin as philosophers where we began as babies, at the only place there is to begin: by looking at the world.2

The very first thing a man might say about what there is is simply that it is: what is, is; existence exists.

This axiom must be the foundation of everything else. Before one can consider any other issue, before one can ask what things there are or what problems men face in learning about them, before one can discuss what one knows or how one knows it—first, there must be something, and one must grasp that there is. If not, there is nothing to consider or to know.3

Footnotes

  1. Here “existence” is a collective noun, denoting the sum of existents. ↩

  2. ”Existence, Consciousness, and Identity as the Basic Axioms,” in OPAR. ↩

  3. ”Existence, Consciousness, and Identity as the Basic Axioms,” in OPAR. ↩

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