The Law of Identity

Implicit in the axioms of existence and consciousness is the law of identity: A is A. To be is to be something as against other things. The “identity” of an existent refers to that which it is, the sum of its attributes or characteristics—its nature. The fact identified here is subtly different than that identified in the axiom of existence: the latter distinguishes something from nothing, the former distinguishes this thing from that thing.

This law is, along with existence and consciousness, an axiom: a fundamental and inescapable starting point of knowledge. Wherever a man is studying something, he is studying something as against some other thing. The “thing” is the identification.