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.
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
"Of all the writings I have published, this was incomparably the best" — Hume's own preferred moral-philosophical statement
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (Mid-late) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Relational |
| 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 | None |
| 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
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
Modern relational-empirical time.
Space
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
Social-cultural space of moral life.
Matter
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
Embodied human beings as substrate of moral sentiments.
Observer
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
Empirical moral observer.
Energy
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
Energies of moral sentiments — sympathy, approbation.
Information
An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
Accumulated moral-philosophical tradition tested empirically.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Hume's preference for the Enquiry over the Treatise has been a continuing scholarly question. Subsequent moral philosophy has variously engaged Humean sentimentalism.