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.
On Nature (fragments)
Air as arche — rarefaction yields fire, condensation yields wind, cloud, water, earth, stone: the first quantitative mechanism of change
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | On Nature (fragments) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | not engaged |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| 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 | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | not engaged |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Non-conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
On Nature (fragments)
Eternal natural order: air has always existed. Deterministic: rarefaction and condensation follow necessary physical laws.
Space
On Nature (fragments)
Infinite: air "encompasses the whole world" (Fr. B2). The flat earth floats on air.
Matter
On Nature (fragments)
Infinite, conserved, substantival: air transforms by density change — the first quantitative conservation principle.
Observer
On Nature (fragments)
The rational inquirer reasoning from analogy (soul-to-air, body-to-cosmos). Embodied, active.
Energy
On Nature (fragments)
Rarefaction and condensation imply conserved energetic processes. Reversible: the same air can rarefy and condense.
Information
On Nature (fragments)
Structural information in density patterns. Continuous granularity. No afterlife doctrine.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Mechanism vs. hylozoism: is air alive because it is the soul's substance, or is the soul merely indifferent air? The tension between the mechanistic strategy and the animist overtone was never resolved.