Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
De Officiis Ministrorum
Christian duty as the fulfilment of classical virtue — the bishop's handbook for a post-pagan empire
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | De Officiis Ministrorum (Late) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | not engaged |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | not engaged |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Tradition |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Finite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | not engaged |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
De Officiis Ministrorum
Time is the medium of moral action; the clergy's duty unfolds in the daily time of pastoral care. The eschatological horizon — the Last Judgment — gives moral urgency to present action.
Space
De Officiis Ministrorum
The spatial world is the Roman-Christian social order: the church, the bishop's court, the city, the empire. Ambrose's ethics are resolutely practical and situated.
Matter
De Officiis Ministrorum
Material goods are the subject of justice: how is wealth distributed, how are the poor served? Matter is good and is the medium of charitable duty.
Observer
De Officiis Ministrorum
The observer is a Christian clergyman — embodied, socially situated, morally responsible. Agency is both: the will chooses virtue, but grace enables it.
Energy
De Officiis Ministrorum
Not treated technically. Moral energy — the will directed toward duty — is the practical equivalent.
Information
De Officiis Ministrorum
Tradition (the handing on of doctrine and moral example) is the primary informational category. Scripture and the lives of the saints conserve and transmit moral truth across time.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The Christianisation of Cicero raises the question of how much is genuinely transformed and how much is pagan ethics in clerical dress. Ambrose's emphasis on clerical duty (officium) can feel legalistic; the tension between duty-ethics and the Augustinian emphasis on grace and love runs through the work.