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.
Principles of Political Economy
The major nineteenth-century English political economy — Mill's 1848 synthesis of classical economic theory with progressive social-political philosophy
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Principles of Political Economy (Mid (Mill's major economic work)) |
|---|---|
| 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 | None |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| 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
Principles of Political Economy
Historical-economic time as the medium of long-run economic-political change.
Space
Principles of Political Economy
The political-economic space of the nation-state and the broader international economy.
Matter
Principles of Political Economy
The material-economic substrate — production, exchange, distribution of wealth.
Observer
Principles of Political Economy
The political-economic analyst — embodied, plural, capable of analysing economic phenomena. No metaphysical framework imposed.
Energy
Principles of Political Economy
The economic energies of production, exchange, accumulation.
Information
Principles of Political Economy
The accumulated economic-empirical record; the systematic-theoretical framework that organises it.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Mill's Principles has been variously read as the culmination of classical political economy (Adam Smith through Ricardo to Mill) and as the proximate source of subsequent socialist critiques. The 1871 7th edition incorporated substantial revisions reflecting Mill's increasing sympathies with cooperative movements. Marshall's 1890 Principles of Economics largely displaced Mill's book as the standard textbook, marking the transition to neoclassical economics.