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.
Seventeen-Article Constitution
Harmony is to be valued — seventeen articles that made Buddhism and Confucianism the moral foundations of the Japanese state
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Seventeen-Article Constitution |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| 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 | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| 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 | Cosmic-ordering |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Tradition |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Finite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| 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
Seventeen-Article Constitution
Both — Buddhist cosmic time and the linear historical time of the Asuka reforms. The Constitution is building a new political order: linear, forward-looking.
Space
Seventeen-Article Constitution
Finite, substantival. The Japanese archipelago and its court hierarchy provide the spatial framework. The relationship to China (the source of Buddhism and Confucianism) is the broader spatial context.
Matter
Seventeen-Article Constitution
Emergent within the Buddhist metaphysical framework. The Constitution does not theorise matter directly but the Buddhist commitment implies conditioned arising.
Observer
Seventeen-Article Constitution
Embodied, active. The court officials addressed by the Constitution are the observers. Knowledge is mediated through the sutras and the Chinese classics. Partial retainment: virtue must be cultivated. Cosmic-ordering: the Buddhist dharma and Confucian Heaven provide moral structure.
Energy
Seventeen-Article Constitution
Finite, conserved. Not theorised independently. Karmic moral energy is implicit.
Information
Seventeen-Article Constitution
Substantival: the Constitution encodes moral-political information for governance. Conserved through textual tradition. Personal conservation through the Buddhist teaching of karma and rebirth.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The synthesis of Buddhist renunciation and Confucian-imperial governance is the central tension: Buddhism teaches detachment from worldly power, yet the Constitution enlists Buddhism in the service of state authority. The question of authorship — whether Shotoku really wrote the text in 604 or whether it is a later composition projected back onto the iconic regent — is the fundamental historical tension.