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 Life of Moses
Moses as the philosopher-king Plato never found — Torah as the constitution of the rational cosmos
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | On the Life of Moses |
|---|---|
| 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 | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | not engaged |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Non-conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Scripture |
| Observer · Theological Method | Rational |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| 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
On the Life of Moses
History is the arena of divine providence — linear, purposive, eschatological. Moses's life is narrated as a divinely guided trajectory. God acts freely in time; human agents exercise genuine moral choice. "The history of Moses is an image of the soul's journey from Egypt to the promised land." (paraphrase of De Vita Mosis I, allegorical reading)
Space
On the Life of Moses
The sensible cosmos is finite and created. Sacred space (the Tabernacle, Sinai) is a point of contact between the intelligible and sensible worlds. "The tabernacle is a symbol of the whole cosmos." (De Vita Mosis II.73, paraphrase)
Matter
On the Life of Moses
Matter is created and subordinate to the intelligible. The miraculous events of the Exodus — the burning bush, the parting of the sea — demonstrate God's sovereignty over matter. "The elements of nature obey the commands of the holy man." (De Vita Mosis I.178, paraphrase)
Observer
On the Life of Moses
Moses is the supreme observer — a prophet who sees God "face to face" (mediated knowledge raised to its highest degree). Human observers are active participants in a providential drama. God is a personal agent who calls, commands, and liberates. "Moses entered the darkness where God was." (De Vita Mosis I.158, paraphrase)
Energy
On the Life of Moses
Divine power (dynamis) is manifested in miracles and in the ongoing sustenance of creation. It is conserved in God and expressed freely. "The power that divided the sea is the same power that holds the cosmos together." (paraphrase)
Information
On the Life of Moses
Torah is divine information communicated through prophecy — substantival, conserved eternally in the mind of God, and made available to the human community through Moses's mediation. "The laws of Moses are not human inventions but divine oracles." (De Vita Mosis II.188, paraphrase)
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The tension between the apologetic aim (making Judaism intelligible to Greeks) and the particularist content (dietary laws, Sabbath, circumcision) is never fully resolved. Philo argues these are expressions of universal reason, but the argument works better for some commandments than for others. A second tension: presenting Moses as a Platonic philosopher-king risks reducing Torah to Hellenistic philosophy — a charge Philo's later critics in the rabbinic tradition would press.