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 Creation of the World
Genesis meets the Timaeus — God creates the intelligible world first, then stamps its pattern on matter
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | On the Creation of the World |
|---|---|
| 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 Creation of the World
Time begins with creation — it is a feature of the sensible world, not of the intelligible. God is eternal and atemporal. History is linear and providential. "Time there was not before there was a world … time began either simultaneously with the world, or after it." (De Opificio Mundi 26)
Space
On the Creation of the World
The created cosmos is finite and contained. Space is substantival but derivative — an artefact of creation, not an eternal given. "God made the world not in a place, for there was no place before the world." (paraphrase of De Opificio Mundi 17)
Matter
On the Creation of the World
Matter is created by God — a departure from Plato's Timaeus, which treats the receptacle as pre-existing. It is finite, non-conserved in the ultimate sense (God can create and unmake it). "Nothing was co-eternal with God; He brought into being what had no existence." (paraphrase of De Opificio Mundi 7–8)
Observer
On the Creation of the World
The human mind (nous) is made in the image of the divine Logos — the most godlike element in creation. Knowledge is mediated by the Logos and by scripture. God is a personal creator who acts freely. "The mind that is worthy of being called a mind is God's likeness and image." (De Opificio Mundi 69)
Energy
On the Creation of the World
Creative divine power (dynamis) sustains the cosmos. Energy is conserved through God's ongoing providence. "The powers of God hold together and sustain the universe." (De Fuga 101, paraphrase, applied in De Opificio Mundi context)
Information
On the Creation of the World
The Logos is the repository of the intelligible Forms — the archetypal information of the cosmos. This information is conserved eternally in the mind of God. "The intelligible world is nothing else than the Logos of God already engaged in the act of creation." (De Opificio Mundi 24)
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The central tension is between creation ex nihilo (implied by "God brought into being what had no existence") and the Platonic model (in which the Demiurge shapes pre-existing matter). Philo oscillates between these in different treatises. A second tension: the Logos is both an aspect of God and distinct from God — a problem that would generate centuries of Christological debate in the Church.