User:Mij52/Evaluate an Article

Article: Epicureanism

Evaluating Content-

I believe that there were a few sections of this article that could be revised or omitted in order to keep the focus solely on Epicurean philosophy. For starters, the History section mostly delves into Epicurus' school which he built, rather than the history of Epicurus himself or how he developed these philosophies. I would suggest that this information be worked into a separate section and that more information relevant to the history of Epicurus and his teachings be added in its place. Later on in the article, there is a section on Tetrapharmakos which should either be deleted or grouped into the section about followers of this philosophy. It details a piece of writing inspired by Epicurean philosophy, but otherwise has no direct relation to Epicurus of his teachings and thus does not merit its own section. I do not believe there is much new information out about this philosophy, but the sources utilized in this article seem to be the most up to date and reliable of the sources on this topic.

Evaluating Tone-

Within the article itself I did not notice any biased statements or phrases, though in some areas the structure of the writing could be revised to reflect that the article is restating the philosophy and beliefs of Epicurus rather than making statements about the world and human nature as fact. At times it could seem as though Epicurus is the one writing the article, so it is best to play it safe and ensure no one misreads the notes about his philosophy.

Evaluating Sources-

The source links work and cite scholarly sources with no apparent bias. I did notice, however, that there were no sources cited until the third paragraph of the article, though surely the contents of the first and second paragraph could be supported by other sources. Additionally, the section about Tetrapharmakos which I mentioned early has no citations. There is nothing to support the claims made about this topic and thus cannot be trusted.

Talk Pages-

This article is part of WikiProjects Greece, Classical Greece and Rome, and Philosophy. It currently has a C-class rating. There is a rather large debate going on behind the scenes regarding whether or not the article should classify Epicureanism as Hedonist or not, and the editors are looking very closely at the language used to discuss the similarities and differences of these philosophies.