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.
De Architectura
Firmitas, utilitas, venustas — the only surviving ancient treatise on architecture and the origin of the Vitruvian Man
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | De Architectura |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | not engaged |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Finite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | not engaged |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
De Architectura
Architecture endures through time — firmitas is resistance to temporal decay. The history of building is progressive: each generation refines the tradition.
Space
De Architectura
Architecture organises three-dimensional Euclidean space according to geometric and harmonic principles. The human body provides the spatial module.
Matter
De Architectura
Building materials — stone, brick, timber, lime, pozzolana — are treated as real substances with definite physical properties. Matter is conserved and local.
Observer
De Architectura
The architect is an active, educated observer who integrates diverse knowledge into unified design. Beauty is objective, grounded in proportion.
Energy
De Architectura
Mechanical energy is central to Books IX–X: water power, hoisting machines, catapults. Conserved and reversible in symmetric machine operations.
Information
De Architectura
De Architectura is itself an act of information conservation: Greek and Roman architectural knowledge codified for posterity.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The tension between architecture as liberal art and architecture as trade. Vitruvius aspires to Hellenistic intellectual status but describes a profession dominated by craftsmen. The triad firmitas-utilitas-venustas encodes the tension: beauty is listed last and hardest to achieve.