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.
On the Plurality of Worlds
Every way the world could have been is a way some concrete world is — modal realism in its strongest form
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | On the Plurality of Worlds (Late (Lewis's mature systematic statement of the modal-realist programme)) |
|---|---|
| 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 | None |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | N/A |
| 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
On the Plurality of Worlds
B-theoretic eternalism within each world; four-dimensional persistence through temporal parts.
Space
On the Plurality of Worlds
Standard substantival space within each of the infinitely many concrete worlds.
Matter
On the Plurality of Worlds
Standard substantival matter; the local-qualities mosaic of Humean supervenience.
Observer
On the Plurality of Worlds
Plural finite observers in each world; mediated knowledge through inference. No metaphysical agency.
Energy
On the Plurality of Worlds
Standard physics.
Information
On the Plurality of Worlds
Information conserved at the world-scale; personal soul not.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The "incredulous stare" objection is the principal lasting difficulty: modal realism is the position most analytic philosophers find unbelievable while granting its systematic power. Alternatives (Kripkean abstractionism, ersatzism, fictionalism) trade off different theoretical costs.