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.
Golden Verses and Testimonia
Number is the principle of all things — the unity of mathematics, music, cosmology, and the purification of the soul
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Golden Verses and Testimonia |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Discrete |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Cyclical |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Curved |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Non-local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Cosmic-ordering |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| 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 | Discrete |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Golden Verses and Testimonia
Time in the Pythagorean framework is cyclical — the soul transmigrates through multiple lives, and the cosmic order repeats. The grain is discrete because number, which structures all things, is discrete.
Space
Golden Verses and Testimonia
The cosmos is a finite, spherical, harmoniously ordered whole — the "music of the spheres" is the spatial structure heard as sound. Non-local because numerical ratios connect distant parts of the cosmos.
Matter
Golden Verses and Testimonia
Matter is real but structured by number — its properties (musical intervals, geometric proportions) are mathematical rather than merely material.
Observer
Golden Verses and Testimonia
The Pythagorean observer is both embodied and spiritual — the soul inhabits successive bodies (multiple time instances) and can, through purification and mathematical study, ascend to knowledge of the cosmic harmony.
Energy
Golden Verses and Testimonia
The cosmic harmony is an energetic structure — the celestial spheres sound, the soul vibrates in sympathy. Energy is conserved across cosmic cycles and potentially reversible through the soul's purification.
Information
Golden Verses and Testimonia
Number is the fundamental informational structure of reality — discrete, substantival, conserved, and eternal. Personal information (the soul) is also conserved through metempsychosis.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The central tension is between mathematics and mysticism: is the Pythagorean programme a rational investigation of the mathematical structure of reality, or a religious cult with dietary taboos and metempsychosis? The ancient sources preserve both aspects, and modern interpreters disagree about which is primary. A second tension is the attribution problem: how much of "Pythagorean" doctrine is actually from Pythagoras himself, and how much from later followers?