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.
Platonic Theology
The soul is the copula mundi — the knot binding divine and corporeal, immortal by its own nature as the Platonic tradition demonstrates and Christian faith confirms
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Platonic Theology (Mature (Ficino's philosophical magnum opus, composed during the height of his work at the Florentine Academy)) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Non-local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Non-local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Total |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Energy · Conservation | Variable |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| 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
Platonic Theology
Divine eternity and created time — the soul participates in both through its position as copula mundi.
Space
Platonic Theology
Emergent and non-local — the soul's relation to the divine is not spatial, and the Neoplatonic hierarchy structures reality beyond spatial extension.
Matter
Platonic Theology
Emergent from the divine through the Neoplatonic hierarchy; the material world is the lowest level of being, real but dependent.
Observer
Platonic Theology
The human soul as the observer par excellence — the copula mundi whose knowledge of universals demonstrates its immortality. Multiple instances through the participation of many souls in the divine ideas. Personal metaphysical agency: God as the source and goal of the soul.
Energy
Platonic Theology
The emanative dynamic of the Neoplatonic hierarchy — divine energy flows from the One through Intellect and Soul to Body and returns.
Information
Platonic Theology
The divine ideas as eternal information; conserved at both cosmic and personal scales through the immortality of the soul.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Ficino's argument turns on the claim that the Platonic proofs for the soul's immortality are genuine demonstrations, not merely probable arguments — a claim that Pomponazzi and the Paduan Aristotelians would contest within a generation. The Fifth Lateran Council (1513) declared the immortality of the soul a dogma and condemned those who denied it could be philosophically demonstrated — a decision that Ficino's Theologia Platonica had helped to prepare, and that shows both the work's influence and the controversy it addressed.