Persona Classification Layer
Compare Personas
Pick two or more historical figures to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension evidence, and shared school influences side by side.
C. D. Broad
The specious present and the growing-block universe — careful philosophical analysis between A-theory and B-theory
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.
| Attribute | C. D. Broad |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Curved |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | None |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | N/A |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Non-conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
C. D. Broad
Growing-block: past and present are real, future is not yet. Uni-directional accumulating temporal ontology.
Space
C. D. Broad
Standard substantival physical space.
Matter
C. D. Broad
Standard substantival matter.
Observer
C. D. Broad
Plural embodied observers; mediated knowledge through scientific theory and careful analysis. No metaphysical agency.
Energy
C. D. Broad
Standard physics.
Information
C. D. Broad
Information about past events conserved as part of the growing block of reality.
Internal Tensions
Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.
Broad's late involvement with parapsychology — defending the seriousness of survival evidence and apparent telepathy in the SPR Proceedings — damaged his mainstream philosophical standing. His sympathetic treatment of dualism and panpsychism was treated as embarrassing by Oxford analytic colleagues from Ryle on; the twenty-first-century revival of consciousness studies has partially rehabilitated this dimension of his work.