Heidegger discusses what is commonly known as the Principle of Identity. Most people view this principle as the fundamental principle of logic, and, this is certainly true. What most people don’t realize is that, as Heidegger points out, this principle is primarily (both in importance and in temporal order) a principle of Being. Heidegger notes that traditional portrayal of the principle, A=A, tends to cause confusion because where as “equality” implies 2 terms, “identity” implies only 1 term. As such, he proposes that the principle of identity would be better portrayed as “A is A”. The principle of identity is then seen to refer primarily to that which is, and to truly discuss identity rather than equality.

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