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.
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John
Newton's 1733 posthumous prophetic-biblical commentary — Daniel and Revelation read as predictive of church-history
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (Posthumous) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Immediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| 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
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John
c. 1680s-1690s composition (the prophetic studies date from Newton's middle period); 1733 posthumous publication, six years after Newton's 1727 death.
Space
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John
Cambridge (Trinity College, where Newton held the Lucasian Chair until 1696) and London (after his move to the Mint). The work is a product of Newton's lifelong private theological study.
Matter
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John
Posthumous prophetic-biblical commentary (~300 pages). The book was carefully selected from a much larger body of Newton's theological manuscripts as the most publishable portion.
Observer
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John
Newton in his private theological persona. The observer is the same natural philosopher who wrote the Principia, but here applying his chronological-textual methods to scripture rather than to physics.
Energy
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John
Sustained biblical-prophetic energies. Newton spent more time on biblical chronology and prophecy than on the Principia or Opticks; the public Newton-as-natural-philosopher disguises the private Newton-as-biblical-chronologer.
Information
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John
Single posthumous volume. The book's chronological calculations of Daniel's seventy weeks and its identification of the Whore of Babylon with the corrupted post-Constantinian Church are the most-discussed sections.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Newton's largest single theological publication; the public face of his lifelong heterodox-Christian biblical-prophetic work. Together with the Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms (1728, posthumous) and the larger body of unpublished theological manuscripts (Yahuda, Keynes, Babson collections), it reveals the depth of Newton's biblical-philosophical work that was virtually unknown to the eighteenth-century reading public.