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.
History of the Inductive Sciences
Whewell's 1837 three-volume history of the inductive sciences — the founding survey of the history of natural science
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | History of the Inductive Sciences (Mid-career) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Flat |
| 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 | Mediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Limited |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Revelation |
| 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 | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
History of the Inductive Sciences
1837 — Victorian Cambridge, early-Victorian peak of inductive science.
Space
History of the Inductive Sciences
Cambridge — Trinity College academic context.
Matter
History of the Inductive Sciences
Three-volume historical narrative.
Observer
History of the Inductive Sciences
Whewell as historian–philosopher of the inductive sciences.
Energy
History of the Inductive Sciences
Sustained synthesising labour across two and a half millennia of natural science.
Information
History of the Inductive Sciences
Three-volume history with extensive scientific bibliographies.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The founding work of the modern history of science, supplying the case material for Whewell's philosophy of induction.