Kmarcos

This is a Wikipedia Prep Assignment.

Jun Tosaka

Jun Tosaka's Wikipedia page is dismally short and can barely even be called a Wikipedia page at all. There is only a brief introductory paragraph that describes where he was born, where he studied, who his interests were, and how and when he died. The page fails to describe Tosaka's influence on the burgeoning civil rights scene of early 1900s China and his impact within Japan itself. Here are a couple of topics that I believe should be included in this Wikipedia article:

• His seminal work The Japanese Ideology
• Views on imperialism
• Views on capitalism
• Role in spreading Marxist thought
• Role in influencing Chinese thinkers such as Liang Shuming

Since I myself am not familiar with his work, it is hard for me to write with a clear conviction of what must be included in this article. Thus I compiled the list above from my recollection of what was being said about him pertaining to the introduction of philosophy as a discipline in China.

Liang Shuming

This is a much more developed and complete Wikipedia entry compared to Jun Tosaka's. The prose is succinct and accurate (to my knowledge). The description of Shuming's views on the development of the West versus China is especially reminiscent of the readings done for class. Perhaps drawing more from Guy S. Alitto's Has Man a Future or discussing Rural Reconstruction Movement would further substantiate the article.

Chinese Marxist Philosophy

When I came across this page, I was surprised by its brevity: there is only an introductory paragraph, a few paragraphs on its development and a few more on contemporary topics. Although there are no issues with the mechanics of writing for this page, there's surely work to be done to enrich this article. The biggest issue is that it fails to acknowledge any thinkers who promoted Marxism or Marxist ideals before Mao Zedong or thinkers who contributed to Mao's development of Marxist thought such as:

• Wang Fuzhi
  • The Yellow Book
• Friedrich Paulsen

Reflection

Wikipedia is a wonderful source and is one of the few websites where I feel compelled enough to donate to it even with its persistent pop-ups. The possibilities with working on this platform are limitless; any work published is merely a starting point, accessible to the millions in the Wikipedia community to consume, research and continuously edit. However, the challenge with working on a complex subject like Chinese Philosophy is to effectively assess information from the many texts that are available and communicate that information in a clear manner. Furthermore, it is imperative to keep a neutral tone- unlike my past writing assignments where I argue a point, encyclopedia entries are simply meant to summarize and communicate information clearly. It is also important to be conscious that I may inadvertently express certain views by the works I choose to cite or the information I choose to include, so it is best to draw from a wide range of texts and commit to covering the full scope of the topic I choose to write about.