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 Letter Concerning Toleration
The care of souls cannot belong to the civil magistrate — and toleration of religious difference is the fundamental Christian and civic virtue
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | A Letter Concerning Toleration (Late) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| 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 | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| 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
A Letter Concerning Toleration
Real political-historical time. The Letter argues from the historical lessons of religious persecution.
Space
A Letter Concerning Toleration
Standard background.
Matter
A Letter Concerning Toleration
The civil sphere governs material welfare; the religious sphere governs the soul. Substantial real matter; firm civil-religious boundary.
Observer
A Letter Concerning Toleration
The Lockean observer is the free citizen-believer whose conscience is sovereign. Embodied, plural, active in moral and religious reasoning. Moral authority is reason guided by scripture.
Energy
A Letter Concerning Toleration
Not engaged.
Information
A Letter Concerning Toleration
The free conscience is the locus of religious information; civil coercion cannot reach it. Personal information conserved (Locke retains standard Christian commitments).
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Locke's explicit exclusion of Catholics (politically suspect) and atheists (cannot be bound by oaths) is the principal modern complaint against the Letter. Subsequent liberal-toleration arguments (Mill, Rawls) extend toleration further than Locke would have. The Letter's argument applies most directly to disputes within Protestant Christianity rather than to genuine pluralism — though its general principles have proven extensible.