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.
Cosmos
Sagan's 1980 popular cosmology — book companion to the PBS television series that defined late-twentieth-century scientific popularisation
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Cosmos (Mid) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Curved |
| 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 | Partial |
| 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 | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Variable |
| Information · Granularity | Discrete |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Cosmos
The cosmic-evolutionary time-scale; the 1980 contemporary moment of popular-scientific synthesis.
Space
Cosmos
The cosmic-scale space of astronomy and cosmology; the Earth as proper-vantage-point.
Matter
Cosmos
The material universe as proper-scientific subject.
Observer
Cosmos
The disciplined-naturalist observer as proper-scientific subject.
Energy
Cosmos
The cosmic-physical energies of the universe.
Information
Cosmos
The cumulative-scientific content the book popularises.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Cosmos has been variously assessed — universally praised as foundational popular-scientific work; religious-conservative critics contested its naturalist worldview; later popular-scientific work has built on and modified the Saganian model.