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 Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
Domestic variation and the now-discarded theory of pangenesis — Darwin's major treatment of inheritance, ten years after Origin
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (Mature) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | None |
| 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 | 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
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
The centuries of artificial selection that produced domestic varieties; the longer evolutionary time of natural selection.
Space
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
The British and continental agricultural-breeding establishments Darwin studied.
Matter
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
The embodied domestic plants and animals whose variations the work catalogues.
Observer
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
Darwin as inheritance-theorist drawing on extensive breeder reports.
Energy
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
The generative-reproductive energies that produce and transmit variation.
Information
The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication
The catalogue of variations; the (eventually discarded) pangenesis theory.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Pangenesis was widely criticised in Darwin's lifetime (Jenkin's 1867 "blending inheritance" objection had been a major problem for Darwin) and was rejected by Mendel's subsequent genetics. The book's scientific reputation suffered through the early twentieth century before being rehabilitated for its empirical achievement.