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.
The Discarded Image
The medieval cosmological model — the discarded image of the world that organised pre-modern European literary-cultural life
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | The Discarded Image (Last) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Curved |
| 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 | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Cosmic-ordering |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| 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
The Discarded Image
The long medieval period from the Patristic-Boethian synthesis through the late-Renaissance recovery of antiquity.
Space
The Discarded Image
The medieval cosmological space — the concentric spheres, the prime mover, the earth at the centre — that organised the medieval imagination.
Matter
The Discarded Image
The four elements; the celestial matter of the spheres; the descending hierarchy from spirit to body.
Observer
The Discarded Image
The medieval knower who shared this model; Lewis as the modern reconstructive scholar; the contemporary reader.
Energy
The Discarded Image
The intelligent-spiritual energies of the angelic-planetary intelligences; the natural energies of the four elements.
Information
The Discarded Image
The detailed medieval cosmological-theological model.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Lewis's reconstruction has been criticised by some specialists for over-systematising what was actually a more varied medieval philosophical-theological inheritance. Its accessibility and reach to non-specialist readers is uncontested.