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Work #1133 · Mid

Poor Richard's Almanack

Benjamin Franklin
1732-1758 (annual, twenty-six issues) · English
Annual almanac with proverbs and essays · American Enlightenment / Practical-republican tradition

Franklin's 1732-58 annual almanac — colonial America's most-read book of practical wisdom and proverbs

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Poor Richard's Almanack (Mid)
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 Finite
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 Personal
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 Discrete

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Poor Richard's Almanack

The 1732-58 colonial-American annual publication.

Space

Poor Richard's Almanack

Philadelphia and the colonial-American reading public.

Matter

Poor Richard's Almanack

The practical-economic material life of colonial Americans.

Observer

Poor Richard's Almanack

The colonial-American reader as proper addressee.

Energy

Poor Richard's Almanack

The cultural energies of colonial-American daily life.

Information

Poor Richard's Almanack

The proverbial-practical content of the 26 annual issues.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Poor Richard's Almanack

The Almanack's commercial-industriousness ethic has been variously assessed — admired by mainstream American tradition, critiqued (Max Weber, D.H. Lawrence) as the founding document of capitalist-Protestant moral instrumentalism.