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 Acting Person
Person and act — Wojtyła's phenomenological-Thomistic analysis of human action as the constitution and self-revelation of the person
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | The Acting Person (Mid (his major academic-philosophical work, before his 1978 papal election)) |
|---|---|
| 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 | 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 | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
The Acting Person
The temporal unfolding of action as the self-constitution of the person.
Space
The Acting Person
The interpersonal space in which action and participation take place.
Matter
The Acting Person
The embodied person — the body as integral to the action and self-revelation of the person.
Observer
The Acting Person
The acting person — embodied, plural, active in self-constitution. Personal-providential God as ultimate framework.
Energy
The Acting Person
The energies of human action — will, freedom, embodied integration.
Information
The Acting Person
The personal self-knowledge constituted through action; the philosophical tradition of analysis of human action.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The English translation history of The Acting Person has been continuously controversial — Tymieniecka's 1979 translation substantially modifies the Polish text; a new translation by Adrian Walker is in progress that aims at closer fidelity to the original. The book's relation to Wojtyła's papal teaching is the central scholarly question — does the philosophical framework underlie all of his subsequent papal magisterium, or does the papal voice draw on different theological resources? The book's influence on Catholic social teaching (especially the dignity of work) has been substantial.