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.
Novum Organum
Knowledge is power — and the road to it is patient inductive observation, freed from the four Idols of the mind
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Novum Organum |
|---|---|
| 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 | Flat |
| 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 | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| 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
Novum Organum
Standard pre-Newtonian temporal realism. The scientific project unfolds in real historical time — Bacon explicitly envisions a multi-generational collaborative undertaking.
Space
Novum Organum
Standard background. Bacon's method applies to investigation of any natural phenomenon in physical space.
Matter
Novum Organum
Real, substantival, the proper object of scientific investigation. Bacon's method is most directly applied to the study of material nature.
Observer
Novum Organum
The Baconian observer is the embodied investigator in a collaborative scientific community. Knowledge is built up cumulatively through induction; no individual can complete the project. Moral authority is reason supplemented by observation.
Energy
Novum Organum
Pre-thermodynamic framework. Bacon's investigations of heat (Novum Organum II.20) anticipate the experimental study of energetic phenomena.
Information
Novum Organum
Real natural information is preserved in the careful records of natural philosophy — the Sylva Sylvarum project is the practical companion. Standard Christian framework for personal information.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Bacon's rhetorical ambition — to overthrow Aristotle and Plato — sits awkwardly with his actual scientific achievements, which were modest. Newton, Boyle, and the Royal Society honoured Bacon as their methodological ancestor; the technical fruit of the method came later. Bacon's political career and personal corruption (he was impeached for bribery in 1621) have also been used against the work, though the philosophy stands independent.