A Theory of Meaning (AToM)

A Theory of Meaning (AToM) is a philosophy of coherence, informed by science.

It takes the structural insights of frontier sciences and asks what they imply for lived existence.

Physics, neuroscience, and complexity theory describe how systems maintain organization. AToM asks: toward what?

The answer is coherence: the capacity of a system to remain whole across time, constraint, and change. This coherence is meaning: not narrative or belief, but the ongoing achievement of integration amid competing forces.

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What AToM Is Not

AToM does not replace empirical science, offer testable predictions of its own, or compete with established scientific frameworks. It operates at a philosophical level, clarifying how scientific explanations relate to questions of meaning, identity, and coherence, and where their explanatory limits lie.

Authored by Ryan Collison

Founder, Ideasthesia Institute