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.
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
A boat trip up the Concord and Merrimack rivers — and the philosophical-poetic-religious meditations the trip occasions
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (Early-mature) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Partial |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Cosmic-ordering |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Experience |
| 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
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The seven days of the journey; the longer biographical time of John's loss and Thoreau's subsequent life.
Space
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The Concord and Merrimack rivers as the geographical-natural setting.
Matter
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The embodied brothers in the boat; the material rivers, woods, towns through which they pass.
Observer
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
Thoreau himself as the philosophical-poetic observer; John as the absent-yet-present companion.
Energy
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The natural-cosmic energies of the rivers and seasons; the moral energy of authentic attention.
Information
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The natural-historical content; the philosophical meditations.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The book's critique of orthodox Christianity made it controversial in 1849 and may have contributed to its poor sales. Its rehabilitation as a major work has occurred substantially through twentieth-century criticism.