User:Nicjguo/Preparatory Assignment

=Mao's "On Practice"=


 * The article regarding On Practice is informative and covers the most central tenets of Mao's essay. The historical context given in the first section helps to frame the following information, and in the larger body of text several examples are given to ground the reader in the practical, mirroring Mao's philosophy. In this sense, the entry is quite useful in making sense of concepts like dialectical materialism. The way it places dialectical materialism relative to schools of empiricism and rationalism is accurate and helps to paint a larger picture of competing theories. If there is anything the entry lacks, it might be illustrating how Mao's theory applied to specific tasks or laws he carried out. Moreover, the entry glosses over similar processes of change such as with the Soviet Union, and more broadly, the concept of global communism.

=Confucianism=


 * This entry is much longer than the last, as it concerns a concept of much broader scale. It seems to do a good job regarding scope, following a loosely chronological order so that Confucianism can be understood both from a modern and traditional perspective. Moreover, it details specific qualities that Confucianism values along with a brief overview of its etymology and even criticism. However, there seems to be a gap in which the entry fails to explain the reason for Confucianism's demise prior to its Tang Dynasty resurgence. Some ideas are presented to be unanimously held by Confucians such as "the belief that human beings are fundamentally good," despite the fact that notable figures disagreed. Additionally, the diverse schools of Confucianism are hardly mentioned, particularly the turn of the 19th century arch-conservatives, cautious reformers and radical reformers.

=The Proletariat=


 * This entry on the proletariat class is very succinct. This is probably because a lot of related theory and connected concepts have entries of their own. The entry offers a glimpse at the roots of the word from which Marx most likely drew inspiration as well as a description of the Proletarian role in Marxism. In the opening paragraph, there is a bit of a jump from the statement that the "dictatorship of the proletariat is for the proletariat, of the proletariat, and by the proletariat" to the conclusion that "this will endow the proletarian with the power to abolish the conditions that make a person a proletarian and, thus, build communism." Though it captures the perceived inevitability of the proletarian revolution this oversimplifies matters and skips steps like the way industrialization provides impetus for cooperation, etc. The dictatorship of the proletariat is a system that already follows capitalism so it seems to be somewhat of a leap. The initial paragraph could have included more and some information about the Romans and their census process could be seen as tangential.

=Opportunities and Challenges=


 * When writing in Wikipedia, there can be considerable difficulty when considering audience and also conciseness. Regarding something like Chinese philosophy, readers are likely to be students or otherwise learners seeking either additional related sources or brief summaries of a concept. To reconcile this interest with providing accurate, exhaustive information can be a conflict of interest, potentially.


 * It can also be hard to know what belongs on a broader page such as Confucianism and what might be independent enough of a concept as to warrant its own page (e.g. Li(Confucianism)).


 * Whereas an encyclopedia is meant to be impartial and to cover a wide range of related items, philosophical texts or historical essays can be highly-focused and are often expected to be persuasive or to present a case from a particular perspective. They may be more nuanced in regards to a very specific thesis but lack the breadth to cover an entire field.