User:Eryeluo/subpagePreparatoryAssignment

Nishi Amane
This entry clearly depicts the life, development, and career of Nishi Amane, and it at least covers all the general content and information I have learned in class and from the reading. Some of the main information of this entry includes Nishi Amane receiving his education from Netherlands, being instrumental in introducing Western philosophy to Japan, reconciling Eastern thoughts with Western philosophy, and mentioning his work on utilitarian concepts such as the "three treasures" of wealth, health, and knowledge. Thus, I think the general content is accurate based on what I already know about Nishi Amane. In terms the scope of the content, the entry provides enough information for readers to understand about Nishi Amane's life and how he developed his thoughts and philosophy. Specifically, there is an abundant information under "Early Life," "Meiji Philosopher," and "Legacy" in chronological order based on timeline that clearly portrays Nishi Amane's development and impact. However, I also must concede that there could be more information about the political role he played as a bureaucrat, as shown by the smaller portion of information under the "Meiji Bureaucrat" section. For usefulness, I think the entry explains Nishi Amane's philosophical work and impact effectively, given that the content illustrates how he coined the term "zhexue" and how he tried to put Eastern thoughts into the Western philosophy context. There is an equal proportion of information about Nishi Amane's life, career, and impact, and thus I think the entry is balanced.

Wang Yangming
Although this entry portrays the life, philosophy, and influence of Wang Yangming effectively, it lacks the in-depth details and background of Wang Yangming's philosophy that could make the entry even better. Based on what I learned about Wang Yangming from Professor Stephen Angle's Neo-Confucianism philosophy class, I think the entry accurately depicts Wang Yangming's life as a scholar and his philosophy. The entry explains about Wang Yangming taking part in the bureaucratic service, and developing idealistic concepts such as "innate knowing," "knowing and acting," and "clearing the mind from selfishness." However, in terms of usefulness, although the entry covers the general content of Wang Yangming, it can be improved by explaining about his philosophy more in detail. First, the entry could be better by explaining the background of "lixue" and how it is different from Wang Yangming's idealistic views. Moreover, the entry could be improved by adding quotes of "Wang Yangming" explaining his thoughts and ideas. For example, I think the Wang Yangming's philosophical concepts can be better understood if there was a quote for when he provides an analogy of how selfishness distorts a person's sense of right or wrong. I think that Wang Yangming's ideas can potentially be better put to use by making an open-ended interpretation. Thus, using quotes allow the readers to come up with potentially unique interpretations, that is derived from a neutral tone text, which is consistent with Wikipedia's writing style.

Zhang Binglin
This entry include abundant information about the life, political involvement, Yogacara Buddhism, and legacy of Zhang Binglin (Zhang Taiyan). However, although this entry seems to have a lot of details about Zhang Binglin, there seems to be a problem of not covering some important information in detail. For example, in John Makeham's Zhang Taiyan reading, he elaborates in detail about Zhang Binglin's concept of "three nature" and Yogacara Buddhism's "eight consciousness." However, the entry only briefly mentions about these two consciousness, and as a result, the reading on the philosophical part of the entry is abrupt. For example, the entry claims that Zhang Binglin attempted to promote Yogacara Buddhism as a philosophy, and not a religion. At the same time, however, the entry also mentions that Zhang Binglin insists that people should follow the doctrines of the three nature. The entry does not explain clearly how it is possible to adhere to a doctrine and not be following a religion at the same time, nor specifically what are the three natures. Therefore, in terms of usefulness, I think the entry could improve in being specific and clear in the philosophical part. In terms of accuracy, the entry covers all of the general content I learned in class. This included information about Zhang Binglin being anti-Manchu, anti-Qing emperor, and his ideas being very radical from traditional Chinese ideas. For the balance of entry, I think this entry provides a balanced information about Zhang Binglin's early biography, his role in society at the time, his philosophical work, and his legacy.

The Challenge of Writing Philosophical Subject in Wikipedia
A key challenge when writing a philosophical subject in Wikipedia is to convey the information as accurately as possible, and at the same time, keeping a neutral tone in the textual language. For example, although Zhang Binglin's entry contains an abundant information about his life and his work, there are limits in that some of his concepts such as the doctrine of the "three nature" are not elaborated in detail. As a result, the entry is very abrupt in the philosophical section, especially when making certain assertions such as Zhang Binglin attempted to promote Yogacara Buddhism as a philosophy rather than a religion. However, an important characteristic in philosophy compared with other subjects is that philosophical concepts tend to be open-ended interpretations. When elaborating these abstract concepts in detail, one typically provides examples to convey their interpretations. Thus, this no longer becomes neutral tone. On the other hand, when leaving philosophical concepts to be open-ended, it tends to be more difficult for the general audience to comprehend them. However, I think leaving philosophical concepts to be open-ended is the key to preserving a neutral tone in the textual language and conveying information as accurately as possible. Therefore, I think the key to writing a philosophical subject in Wikipedia is to define all of the philosophical concepts and provide as much general information relevant to the philosophical subject.