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.
Conics
Parabola, ellipse, hyperbola — the curves that would become the orbits of planets, defined here in pure geometry
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Conics |
|---|---|
| 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 | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | not engaged |
| Matter · Ontological Status | not engaged |
| Matter · Conservation | not engaged |
| Matter · Dimensionality | not engaged |
| Matter · Locality | not engaged |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | not engaged |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | not engaged |
| Energy · Ontological Status | not engaged |
| Energy · Conservation | not engaged |
| Energy · Dispersibility | not engaged |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | not engaged |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Conics
Implicit: mathematical truths are timeless. Deterministic: properties follow necessarily from definitions.
Space
Conics
Infinite, flat (Euclidean), three-dimensional, local. The cone is 3D; sections are 2D curves within it.
Matter
Conics
Unaddressed: pure geometry, not physics.
Observer
Conics
The geometer who constructs, proves, and communicates with fellow mathematicians.
Energy
Conics
Unaddressed: no physical content. (Kepler and Newton later supplied the physics.)
Information
Conics
Mathematical information is substantival, conserved, and continuous — eternal truths discovered and proved.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The gap between pure geometry and physical application: Apollonius had no inkling that conics describe planetary orbits, yet his work provided exactly the apparatus Kepler needed. The "unreasonable effectiveness" of pure mathematics is the unresolved puzzle Apollonius embodies.