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 Free Choice of the Will
God is not the author of evil — free will is; and yet the will's very freedom is itself a divine gift
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | On Free Choice of the Will (Early) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Both |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Scripture |
| 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 | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
On Free Choice of the Will
Standard Christian-cosmological background. Time within fallen history is the medium of moral choice; eternity is God's mode.
Space
On Free Choice of the Will
Standard.
Matter
On Free Choice of the Will
Created good; against Manichean dualism, matter is not the source of evil.
Observer
On Free Choice of the Will
The Augustinian observer is the free created will — embodied, plural, active. Moral authority is scripture; metaphysical agency is personal.
Energy
On Free Choice of the Will
Standard medieval Christian doctrine of divine sustenance.
Information
On Free Choice of the Will
God's knowledge is total. Personal information is conserved.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Augustine's later anti-Pelagian theology of grace pulls strongly against the early De Libero Arbitrio's emphasis on free will. The Retractations acknowledge the tension without resolving it. Modern Augustinian scholarship (Peter Brown, Carol Harrison) reads the early and late Augustine as developing a single position with different emphases under different polemical contexts.