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.
Fons Vitae
All beings from angels to stones are composed of matter and form — the universal hylomorphism that divided the schoolmen
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Fons Vitae |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | 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 | not engaged |
| Matter · Extent | Both |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | not engaged |
| 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 | Cosmic-ordering |
| 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 | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Fons Vitae
The divine Will is eternal; emanation is a timeless logical process. The physical world exists in temporal succession. Deterministic: emanation proceeds by necessity from the Will.
Space
Fons Vitae
Finite, substantival, three-dimensional. Corporeal space belongs to the lowest level of the emanative hierarchy. Spiritual substances are not spatial.
Matter
Fons Vitae
Universal hylomorphism: matter extends from the highest spiritual substances to the lowest corporeal beings — hence "Both" (finite corporeal matter plus infinite/universal spiritual matter). Conserved through transformation.
Observer
Fons Vitae
The human soul is a spiritual substance composed of matter and form. Knowledge is mediated: the soul ascends through the hierarchy of forms toward the divine Will. Active agency in the pursuit of knowledge. Cosmic-ordering: the Will orders all existence.
Energy
Fons Vitae
The divine Will is the infinite source of creative energy. Emanation flows downward, conserved and irreversible. The Will is the first emanation from the unknowable God.
Information
Fons Vitae
Form is information: the hierarchy of forms is the intelligible structure of the cosmos. Conserved in the divine Will. Personal conservation: the rational soul is immortal. Continuous: the hierarchy of forms is a continuous gradation.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The complete absence of Jewish content creates a tension with the author's identity: is Fons Vitae a Jewish work? The Keter Malkhut suggests the same cosmology in Hebrew liturgical dress, but the philosophical treatise is radically universalist. Universal hylomorphism raises the question of whether "spiritual matter" is coherent — if matter is what makes things particular and changeable, how can immaterial beings have it?