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.
The Problems of Philosophy
A short introduction to philosophical questions about knowledge, perception, induction, and the value of philosophy itself
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | The Problems of Philosophy (Early) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | None |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| 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 | Non-conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Discrete |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
The Problems of Philosophy
Standard early-twentieth-century treatment of time as a real continuum. Time of acquaintance shapes epistemology.
Space
The Problems of Philosophy
Substantival, mind-independent. Russell's realism about external objects is the working stance.
Matter
The Problems of Philosophy
Mind-independent physical objects exist; they are known by description from sense-data, not directly.
Observer
The Problems of Philosophy
The Russellian observer is the embodied human knower — plural, active, with knowledge built up from acquaintance.
Energy
The Problems of Philosophy
Not engaged philosophically.
Information
The Problems of Philosophy
Universals are the substantival informational structure of reality. Personal information not conserved across death.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Russell's early philosophical positions shifted considerably across his long career; by the 1920s he had moved toward neutral monism and away from some of the Problems's commitments. The relation between this introductory text and his more technical philosophical work (Principia Mathematica, the Theory of Knowledge manuscripts) is one of accessible summary rather than comprehensive statement.