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.
Parts of Classes
Lewis's 1991 mereological reformulation of set theory — classes have proper parts, not membership
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Parts of Classes (Late-middle) |
|---|---|
| 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 | 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 | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Impersonal |
| 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 | Non-conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Parts of Classes
1991. Late-middle Lewis.
Space
Parts of Classes
Princeton University — Lewis's institutional base from 1970 until his 2001 death.
Matter
Parts of Classes
Single monograph (~150 pages plus formal appendix).
Observer
Parts of Classes
Late-middle Lewis. The observer-philosopher is positioned at the intersection of mereology, set theory, and modal realism.
Energy
Parts of Classes
Programmatic-philosophical-mathematical energies. The book is Lewis's most concentrated contribution to philosophy of mathematics.
Information
Parts of Classes
Single book. The formal appendix (Burgess and Hazen) carries the technical equivalence claim; Lewis's main text carries the philosophical argument.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Lewis's principal contribution to philosophy of mathematics — the mereological reformulation of set theory. Together with 'On the Plurality of Worlds' (1986), it shows Lewis's distinctive style of reducing apparent metaphysical primitives to a minimal philosophical-mereological vocabulary. The book has been influential on subsequent work in mereology and structural-foundational philosophy of mathematics.