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Work #1002 · Late-mature

Evangelium Vitae

Karol Józef Wojtyła / Pope John Paul II
1995 (Evangelium Vitae, issued March 25, 1995, the feast of the Annunciation) · Latin
Papal encyclical · Catholic moral theology / Christian personalism

The Gospel of Life — the inviolable dignity of human life from conception to natural death, against the "culture of death" that organises modern society against it

Attribute Fingerprint

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

Attribute Evangelium Vitae (Late-mature)
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 Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Scripture
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

Evangelium Vitae

The mid-1990s moment of the consolidation of legal abortion across Western democracies; the historical arc of Catholic bioethical teaching.

Space

Evangelium Vitae

The political-legal spaces of contemporary democracies; the medical-institutional spaces of hospitals and clinics.

Matter

Evangelium Vitae

The embodied human life from conception to natural death.

Observer

Evangelium Vitae

The morally serious Catholic the encyclical aims to form; the secular public the encyclical addresses.

Energy

Evangelium Vitae

The cultural-political energies of the "culture of death"; the alternative energies of a "Gospel of Life."

Information

Evangelium Vitae

The systematic catalogue of bioethical positions; the underlying anthropological-theological framework.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Evangelium Vitae

Evangelium Vitae's positions on abortion and euthanasia have remained the consistent Catholic teaching; its position on capital punishment has continued to develop (Pope Francis substantially completed the trajectory in 2018). The encyclical has been a major source for Catholic political-public-policy engagement on bioethical questions; secular critics have argued its positions on abortion and euthanasia depend on specifically religious anthropological claims that cannot legitimately ground public policy.