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 Differences between Plato and Aristotle
Plato is superior to Aristotle in theology, ethics, and metaphysics — and the Latin West has been led astray by preferring the student to the master
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | On the Differences between Plato and Aristotle (Late (Pletho was approximately 84; the work is the product of a lifetime of Platonist conviction)) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Cyclical |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Non-local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Non-local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Total |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Singular |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Cosmic-ordering |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| 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 Differences between Plato and Aristotle
The eternal divine order (the Platonic One beyond time) and the temporal procession of the created cosmos. Cyclical through the Neoplatonic structure of emanation and return.
Space
On the Differences between Plato and Aristotle
Emergent from the divine order; non-local because the Forms structure all reality from beyond spatial location.
Matter
On the Differences between Plato and Aristotle
Emergent — the lowest level of the Platonic hierarchy, real but dependent on the Forms.
Observer
On the Differences between Plato and Aristotle
The divine Mind as the source of all being and knowing; the human soul as participant in divine thought through philosophical contemplation. Cosmic-ordering metaphysical agency.
Energy
On the Differences between Plato and Aristotle
The emanative energy of the divine hierarchy; reversible through contemplative ascent.
Information
On the Differences between Plato and Aristotle
The Forms as eternal informational content; conserved through the immortality of the rational soul.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
De Differentiis sparked a controversy that consumed a generation of scholars: George of Trebizond's response was so vituperative that Cardinal Bessarion had to write In Calumniatorem Platonis (Against the Calumniator of Plato) to moderate the debate. The deeper tension is that Pletho's private Platonism was pagan — his Laws proposed to replace Christianity with a Hellenic theology — while De Differentiis presents Plato as merely a better philosopher than Aristotle, not as an alternative to Christ. The work's lasting significance is that it initiated the demand for Latin Plato that Ficino would satisfy, thereby catalysing the Renaissance Platonist movement.