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.
Fragments and Testimonia
The first actor steps out of the chorus — ritual becomes theatre, and a new way of knowing the human condition is born
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Fragments and Testimonia |
|---|---|
| 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 | Implicit |
| 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 | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Fallible |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Tradition |
| 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 | Implicit |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Fragments and Testimonia
Tragic performance is a bounded temporal event — it happens once, in the shared present of actors and audience, and cannot be undone. The mythic time of the story (Troy, Thebes) is re-presented in civic time (the Dionysia).
Space
Fragments and Testimonia
The orchestra is the space of impersonation — a circle where the actor is both himself and the character. This doubling of space (Athens and Troy simultaneously) is the ontological innovation.
Matter
Fragments and Testimonia
The actor's body and the mask are the material media of tragic knowledge. The body is mortal and finite — the hero's vulnerability is performed, not merely described.
Observer
Fragments and Testimonia
Thespis splits the observer-function: the actor embodies the character, the audience witnesses. Knowledge is immediate but fallible — the audience knows what the character does not (dramatic irony). Personal information does not survive death in the tragic worldview.
Energy
Fragments and Testimonia
Performance energy: the voice, the dance, the crowd's emotional response. All finite and irreversible — the performance is gone once it ends.
Information
Fragments and Testimonia
Myth is the shared informational code that tragedy re-interprets. The creation of the actor adds a new channel: direct speech in character. The audience's knowledge is deepened by witnessing rather than hearing.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The central tension is between ritual and art. The dithyramb is a sacred act; tragedy is an artistic representation. Thespis stands at the hinge. Solon's alleged disapproval — "If we honour such lying in our performances, we shall find it in our contracts" — testifies to the anxiety the new form created: is the actor a worshipper or a liar?