1           Introduction

In Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (ITOE), Ayn Rand writes:

Since axiomatic concepts are not formed by differentiating one group of existents from others, but represent an integration of all existents, they have no Conceptual Common Denominator with anything else. They have no contraries, no alternatives. The contrary of the concept “table”—a non-table—is every other kind of existents. The contrary of the concept “man”—a non-man—is every other kind of existents. “Existence,” “identity” and “consciousness” have no contraries—only a void.[1]

In this essay, I will argue that the axiomatic concept of “existence” does indeed have Conceptual Common Denominators (CCDs) and, not literally “contraries,” but rather what I will call complements. I will also show that identifying the CCDs and complements sheds important light on this axiomatic concept. (An investigation into the CCDs and complements of the axiomatic concepts of consciousness and identity is outside the scope of this essay, except to the extent that it relates to the present analysis of “existence.”)[2]