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.
Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature
Bohr's 1934 essay collection — the philosophical statement of complementarity for general audiences
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature (Mid-career) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | NDet |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Space · Curvature | Curved |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Non-local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Non-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 | Limited |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Finite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Non-conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Discrete |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature
1934 publication; essays composed 1925-1932. The collection spans the high-quantum-revolution period from the early matrix mechanics (1925) to the founding of the Solvay-conference Copenhagen tradition (1927-1930).
Space
Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature
Copenhagen Institute (Niels Bohr Institute for Theoretical Physics, founded 1921 with Rockefeller Foundation funding) — the geographical-institutional centre of the Copenhagen interpretation.
Matter
Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature
Five-essay collection (~120 pages in standard editions). Form is philosophical-pedagogical rather than technical-physics: Bohr deliberately addresses readers beyond the narrow community of quantum physicists.
Observer
Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature
Mid-Bohr. The observer-philosopher-physicist is at the height of his interpretive-philosophical authority over the quantum-mechanical community; the 1925-1932 period saw the establishment of the Copenhagen interpretation as the dominant philosophical framework.
Energy
Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature
Programmatic energies of the mature Copenhagen school. The 1927 Como Lecture was the founding event; the subsequent essays consolidate the framework.
Information
Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature
Collection of philosophical-pedagogical essays. The Como Lecture (essay 1) is the most-cited; 'Light and Life' (essay 4) extending complementarity to biology has been continuously productive in the philosophy of biology.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
First systematic Bohrian philosophical statement; the canonical reference for complementarity outside the technical physics literature. Read continuously since 1934 by physicists, philosophers of physics, and historians of science; the central reference point for the Copenhagen-interpretation tradition and for the long-running debate over the foundations of quantum mechanics.