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.
De Rerum Naturis
Every creature a sign of God — the Carolingian encyclopedia that made the natural world a book of divine instruction
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | De Rerum Naturis |
|---|---|
| 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 | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | 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 | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Scripture |
| 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
De Rerum Naturis
Both — divine eternity and created historical time. The encyclopedia treats time (Book IX) as part of the created order. Linear, uni-directional salvation history provides the temporal frame.
Space
De Rerum Naturis
Finite medieval cosmos. Geography (Book XII), celestial bodies, and the spatial order of creation are catalogued as divinely created and sign-bearing.
Matter
De Rerum Naturis
Substantival, finite, conserved. Every material thing is real, good, and allegorically significant. The encyclopedia catalogues matter exhaustively as the medium of divine instruction.
Observer
De Rerum Naturis
Embodied, active, mediated. The reader learns about God through the signs embedded in creation, mediated by the encyclopedic text and the patristic tradition of allegorical exegesis.
Energy
De Rerum Naturis
Finite within the created order. Not theorised independently. God sustains all created things in being.
Information
De Rerum Naturis
Substantival: the created world is an information-rich system of signs. Each natural entity encodes moral and theological information recoverable through allegorical reading. The encyclopedia is itself a vehicle for information preservation and transmission.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The tension between factual description and allegorical interpretation runs through every page: fantastic creatures (phoenixes, unicorns) receive the same allegorical treatment as real ones, since the spiritual meaning is more important than empirical accuracy. The dependence on Isidore raises the question of originality: Rabanus's contribution is primarily the allegorical supplement, not the factual content.