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.
Discourse on Metaphysics
Substances, the predicate-in-subject principle, the best of all possible worlds — Leibniz's 1686 short systematic statement of his philosophical framework
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Discourse on Metaphysics (Mid (Leibniz's breakthrough philosophical statement)) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| 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
Discourse on Metaphysics
The temporal unfolding of substances' complete individual concepts; deterministically pre-established.
Space
Discourse on Metaphysics
Leibnizian relational space (against Newtonian absolute space) — substances' positions are relational.
Matter
Discourse on Metaphysics
Material reality as the phenomenal expression of monadic substances.
Observer
Discourse on Metaphysics
Each substance as a monadic observer expressing the universe from its perspective.
Energy
Discourse on Metaphysics
Vis viva (living force) as Leibniz's dynamical principle — the conserved quantity of motion.
Information
Discourse on Metaphysics
Each substance contains complete information about its predicates and (through pre-established harmony) about the universe.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The Arnauld correspondence (1686-90) is the most extended early engagement with the Discourse — Arnauld's objections forced Leibniz to clarify several positions. The relation between the Discourse and the later Monadology (1714) is the central interpretive question — does the framework develop or substantially change? Contemporary engagement (Adams, Garber, Look) has substantially illuminated Leibniz's philosophical project.