User talk:Bristoleast

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Rousseau
Re: this edit I don't want to get into a revert war, but check your edit over carefully as there is stuff there that looks like vandalism and poor formating. -- Stbalbach 20:40, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the comment. I try to keep an eye out for vandalism on this page and will continue to monitor. On the substantive issue between us, I think the point you wanted to make is actually dealt with later in the relevant paragraph (namely the fact that the "natural goodness" doctrine doesn't imply moral goodness). Bristoleast 11:06, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

RE: Rousseau's Relevance to the American Revolution
The criterion for whether an assertion may be included in Wikipedia is veriviability.

This is an enterprise predicated upon the principles of logical positivism. I sympathise with your frustration: my first Wikipedia entry was on "Heuristic Art." My reasoning was that Wikipedia has an entry on "Algorithmic Art" and "all algorithms are heuristics," therefore, Wikipedia ought to have an entry on "Heuristic Art." My article was promptly marked for deletion.

You do not have to agree with my assertion so long as my assertion is verifiable. Perhaps some other wording might be appropriate, such as, for example, "The philisophical approach of the American Founding Fathers was very much influenced by Rousseau's elaboration of such concepts as the consent of the governed, the social contract, civil liberty, inalienable political rights, and civilian legislation, among others." —Preceding unsigned comment added by America jones (talk • contribs) 16:04, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Re: RE: Rousseau and American Constitutionalism
I received an email that appears to be from you which reads:

I don't have a problem with verifiablity here, I just think we may disagree about what that involves. You need to provide some evidence for a statement, and the fact that someone elsewhere has made it too doesn't really amount to that. These claims of Rousseau's influence over something or someone are very widely made (e.g about Karl Marx) but there has to be some reason to think they might be true. I don't think there is such reason in the case of the American Revolution.

In reference to your specific statement "there has to be some reason to think they might be true," I would refer you to the first sentence of the Wikipedia policy on Verifiability, which clearly states "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth."

Again, perhaps there is some alternate wording that properly contextualizes my belief, and furthermore explains why multiple sources including, it would seem, the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, seem to see what I see.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-22053/constitution

America jones 12:43, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

The verifiability policy refers to "reliable sources": "Reliable sources are authors or publications regarded as trustworthy or authoritative in relation to the subject at hand." The sources you cite either aren't reliable about Rousseau or they don't support the change you want to make. Britannica would be reliable, but the article you cite is about constitutions and constitutionalism in general and does not support the idea that Rousseau influenced the American revolutionaries. Bristoleast 14:31, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

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