Theory of Everything

In philosophy, a Theory of Everything or TOE is an ultimate, all-encompassing explanation of reality. The term originated in physics, but unless everything is physical, a theory of everything in physics would be less comprehensive than a theory of everything in philosophy. See Wikipedia's article theory of everything (philosophy) for background.

Langan calls the CTMU a TOE framework in which "everything" really means everything:

Among the questions that are answered within the framework of the CTMU: What is the nature of humanity's relationship with God? What is our relationship with each other on individual and cultural levels? Do human beings possess free will? Is there life after death? Is there a physical basis for spirituality? Where did the universe come from? Is there such a thing as absolute good or absolute evil?

Langan asserts that a true Theory of Everything possesses three properties.

• "First, by definition, a TOE is universal; this is implied by the E, which stands for Everything."

• "Second, it is self-referential; a theory of everything, being a part of the 'everything' to which it refers, must refer to itself. More precisely, a TOE must be totally recursive in a manner analogous to logic, each atom referring exclusively to other parts of the theory, and be able to refer to itself in part and in whole in order to possess full logical closure."

• "And third, because logic is the primary ingredient of cognitive-perceptual syntax, the self-referential TOE refers to logic in part and in whole and is therefore metalogical. Thus, it can incorporate a kind of ultimate truth predicate that asserts its own tautological structure and guarantees that no matter what (semantic and other) kinds of paradox may arise within the theory, they can always be resolved within the theory."

These properties correspond, respectively, to what Langan calls the "Three Cs": comprehensiveness, closure, and consistency. Langan calls a theory possessing all of these properties a supertautology. The CTMU is constructed to be such a theory.