The first basic formulation of Objectivism was published as John Galt's speech in the novel Atlas Shrugged, in 1957. The simplest part of Objectivism is its metaphysics . The Objectivist metaphysics depends on three axioms. An axiom is a self-evident fact which lies at the root of all knowledge. Axioms cannot be challenged because one has to depend on an axiom to argue against it.
Metaphysical axioms are philosophical truths implicit in anything anyone says or does.
That is, things do in fact exist. A. A thing is itself. This is a corollary of the first axiom. This axiom implies that everything has a specific nature and that everything acts in accordance with its nature. Man posses consciousness, which is the faculty of perceiving that which exists.