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.
On Dreams (De Insomniis)
Dreaming as philosophy — the imaginative spirit as gateway between body and intellect, cosmic sympathy as the medium of nocturnal revelation
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | On Dreams (De Insomniis) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Both |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Both |
| Space · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Non-local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Non-local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| 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
On Dreams (De Insomniis)
"Both": created temporal order and atemporal intelligible realm; dreams bridge the two.
Space
On Dreams (De Insomniis)
Non-local cosmic sympathy transmits images across spatial distance; the astral medium is ubiquitous.
Matter
On Dreams (De Insomniis)
The body is real but subordinate; the astral body (pneuma) mediates between flesh and mind.
Observer
On Dreams (De Insomniis)
The dreamer is both embodied and freed from bodily constraint; knowledge comes through the astral medium.
Energy
On Dreams (De Insomniis)
Emanative flow from intelligible to material; reversible through the soul's nocturnal ascent.
Information
On Dreams (De Insomniis)
Dreams convey genuine information; the imaginative spirit preserves and transmits intelligible content.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The tension between Neoplatonic philosophical rigour and the popular, democratic character of dream-divination; the tension between Synesius's Christian office and his pagan Neoplatonic framework.