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.
Altus Prosator
The earliest surviving Irish hymn — a cosmic panorama from the creation of the angels to the final fire and the renewal of all things
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Altus Prosator |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Non-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 | 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 | not engaged |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Altus Prosator
Both — God's eternity ("without origin of beginning and without end") and created linear time from the creation of angels to the Last Judgement. Non-deterministic: the fall of the angels presupposes free creaturely choice.
Space
Altus Prosator
Finite, substantival, three-dimensional, local. The hymn describes the physical structure of the cosmos — heaven, earth, and the regions of the dead — as real spatial locations.
Matter
Altus Prosator
Created, finite, Non-conserved — the Altus Prosator describes the final conflagration in which the physical world is consumed by fire and then renewed. Matter is destroyed and remade, not merely rearranged.
Observer
Altus Prosator
Embodied, active. The hymn's singer-observer is a monk whose knowledge comes from scripture and liturgical tradition (immediate, experiential rather than speculative). Personal metaphysical agency: the Trinitarian God.
Energy
Altus Prosator
Finite, conserved within the created order. The final fire is a divine act that transcends natural energy conservation.
Information
Altus Prosator
The hymn itself transmits cosmic-theological information in a liturgical form designed for memorisation and communal recitation. Personal conservation through the resurrection: the dead rise for judgement.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The attribution to Columba is ancient but uncertain — the poem may be a later product of the Columban tradition. The eschatology of the Altus Prosator (final conflagration and renewal) implies that the present physical world is temporary, creating a tension with the positive valuation of creation in the earlier stanzas. Some elements of the cosmology (the structure of the underworld, the regions of the dead) are unusual by later orthodox standards and may reflect Apocryphal or pre-Christian Irish cosmological influences.