The universe is a complex place. But human beings are able to understand this universe through the use of logic and reason. The basis for our reasoning skills are the fundamental laws of the universe that most people grasp intuitively and a few understand these laws at their fullest meaning. They are the basis for all human knowledge, and the difference between us and every other animal (other than maybe dolphins) on the planet.
The Law of Identity: The law of identity states that a thing is itself. Implicitly this means that it isn’t something else. As Aristotle put it: A is A. It is not B it is not C. Wishing and prayer will not make A in to C. To put it another way, an apple is an apple. It is not an orange and cannot be an orange no matter what word play, justification or religious experience you apply to it. Only the use of WORK can change a lump of iron ore into a steel beam. But the nature of the iron ore is still there within the steel beam. The steel is the iron ore just refined and made better for the purposes of man. The iron ore did not change from A to C, it simply was refined into a new item that contains the identity of A.
This law is fundamental to all human understanding. It is what brought man out of the darkness and into the light. Without this fundamental understanding of the law of identity man would never be sure that a chair is a chair and not a snake that when they sit on is going to wrap itself around them and suffocate them to death. Without the law of identity we would not be able to conceptualize and identify new things, to build new ideas and learn from that which we already know.
The Law of Non-Contradiction: A contradiction, or as a scientist calls it a paradox is an impossibility. The nature of the universe demands that something cannot be both true and false at the same time. A contradiction can also be in the nature of the violation of any of these other laws. We know that a chair is a chair. You sit on a chair. The chair is not something else and the nature of a chair will always be that of a chair unless work is done to change its nature and which case it will no longer be a chair.
This is the law that allows all human knowledge to be verified. Without the law of non-contradiction there would be no scientific method. There would be no investigation, no learning, because we would have no way to verify our results. Far, far too few people use the law of non-contradiction or even understand it fully. It is the violation of the law of non-contradiction that causes most human suffering because reality acts without contradiction and as soon as you act on contradictory information, reality will act on you in a negative way and thus harm you and others because of your ignorance of this simple law.
The Law of Causality: A scientist knows this law as Newton’s Law of Motion. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. To put it more simply, there must be force applied, before something can move (or stop). In other words, the consequence cannot come before the act.
To make steel you first must heat a furnace and put the iron ore into the furnace. The heat acts on the iron ore to change its properties. Further quenching and forging will change the nature of the iron ore further until, through the process found by human intellect, using the first two laws, the iron ore is refined into steel. The steel doesn’t make itself, and if anyone fails to act at any step of the way, the steel will not be produced.
The Law of Universality: Implicit in all of the other laws is the Law of Universality, Otherwise known as Universal Truth. Put simply. 2+2 =4. This is ALWAYS true given the same circumstances. Nowhere in the universe will 2+2 != 4. Notice the use of “same circumstances”. This is key to the concept. If anything changes, if any variable is not controlled in the test, then the answer of 4 is not guaranteed. This is implicit in scientific method. You must control ALL of your variables. If you do not, then you will likely get a different answer.
Many new-age people, and subjectivists (Immanuel Kant) incorrectly use “same circumstances” to demand that there is no such thing as universal truth (which in itself is a violation of the law of non-contradiction). They are argue that somewhere in the universe 2+2 might not equal 4 and thus every answer is equally as right and wrong as another. But this would be a contradiction. Mathematics is absolute. It is not an observation that may be flawed, it is a logical conclusion that is by definition correct, and always so, so long as the math doesn’t contradict other math. Mathematics is the language of the universe. It exists outside of the human senses. Yes, mathematics is discovered by man experiencing something, and wanting to understand it, but the experience does not affect the math in anyway. As Einstein defined light, so to is applicable to mathematics: It is independent of the observer.
As such, truth is independent of human will, and whim. The truth of the universe just is. Man can use the truth or nature of the universe to make what he wants, to build amazing things and accomplish almost anything. However, he does so with the knowledge of the nature of the universe. The more knowledge man has of the nature of the universe, the more man can accomplish with that knowledge. It is not through the ignorance of the nature of the universe, or worse, the wilful disregard for it (religion) that man betters himself. It is through the empirical and careful study of nature combined with all of the tools at man’s disposal that man improves his life. Indeed the Law of Causality provides all of the tools necessary for man to change his life and improve his circumstances.
The next logical question is “What is the universe?” Quite simply, the universe is all of reality. At the edge of the universe, the laws of our universe cease and another set of laws begin. Does this matter to us? At this time no. Why? Because anything entering our universe would be subject to the laws of our universe (which should give you a clue as to the contradiction that is god) and if we leave our universe, then we will be subject to the laws of that reality. (Which we can’t currently do, but may be able to in the future...) Implicitly, if you were to leave our reality, nothing you did in the other reality would effect this reality. Thus the other reality and your actions in it are irrelevant.
The difference between an Objectivist and other naturally logical people is that the Objectivist doesn’t just intuit these laws. He understands them at a fundamental and philosophical level. He applies them to every aspect of his life in every case. They apply these laws in all human interactions, not just math and science, because they understand, that despite the wishes of politicians, and theologians, all positive human interaction must follow these basic principles.
The Intuitive Objectivist, if you will, is a very dangerous person, because the actions are not always logical because they don’t fully and logically understand these fundamental laws. They are capable of great harm, both to themselves and others around them specifically because their actions are instinctual and not intellectual. (Think of the 16 year old getting behind the wheel without first being taught to drive!)
If you are a logical person and are interested in knowing more about Objectivism, you’re next question is how does one apply these laws of the universe to human interaction? Where is the non-contradictory path that must exist to ensure that I am acting RIGHTLY? Stay Tuned!
Suggested reading: Introduction To Objectivist Epistemology