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.
Samkhyakarika
The oldest surviving Samkhya text — the dualism of purusha (consciousness) and prakriti (matter-nature) in 72 systematic verses
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Samkhyakarika |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Cyclical |
| 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 | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Total |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Passive |
| 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 | Reversible |
| 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
Samkhyakarika
Time in Samkhya is infinite and cyclical — prakriti evolves and dissolves in cosmic cycles. Within each cycle, time moves uni-directionally from evolution to dissolution.
Space
Samkhyakarika
Space is one of the five subtle elements (tanmatras) evolved from prakriti. It is substantival and infinite in extent, the medium in which the gross elements manifest.
Matter
Samkhyakarika
Prakriti — primordial matter-nature — is one of the two fundamental realities. It is substantival, conserved (never created or destroyed, only transformed through the gunas), and infinite.
Observer
Samkhyakarika
Purusha is the pure witness — consciousness without agency. It does not act; it observes. Liberation comes when purusha recognises that all activity belongs to prakriti, not to itself. Multiple purushas exist (pluralism).
Energy
Samkhyakarika
The three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) are the energetic principles of prakriti — all activity, transformation, and inertia result from their interplay. Energy is conserved across cosmic cycles.
Information
Samkhyakarika
The 25 tattvas constitute the informational taxonomy of reality — a discrete enumeration of the fundamental categories. Personal consciousness (purusha) is conserved eternally, even after liberation.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The central tension is the interaction problem: if purusha is pure consciousness without agency, and prakriti is unconscious matter, how do they interact? Ishvarakrishna's answer — the mere proximity of purusha causes prakriti to evolve, like a blind person and a lame person cooperating — has been criticised as inadequate since antiquity. A second tension is between the system's atheism and its incorporation into theistic Hindu frameworks (the Bhagavad Gita uses Samkhya categories but adds Krishna as Ishvara).