Talk:Scottish Enlightenment

Importation from WP

I really wish this article had not been imported from Wikipedia. The WP version is mediocre at best with a wholly inadequate intro section, poor section headers, and some of the content of the "major figures" section is strange. The paragraph on Hutcheson does not even remotely do justice to his influence, making no mention of his effect on the clergy and Church of his day. Hume sounds like a natural scientist. There is no discussion of the "dark side of the Scottish Enlightenment". Likewise no discussion of its impact.

When an article is imported from WP, it can discourage work thereon, not to mention folks can get locked into the organization and structure all too easily. From my experience with the Joan of Arc article, I can say that it is much easier to write from a blank slate than to revise a mediocre article. An import from WP should only be done when the WP article is of reasonably good quality to begin with.

Also, the checklist, at the time it was added, incorrectly labeled the article as status 3. It should have been called status 4 (external article).

My apologies if this comment sounds a bit petulant, but this is a high importance article and should be held to a high standard.

James F. Perry 08:37, 7 August 2007 (CDT)

Your point is well taken. In reading over the latest versions, I'm wondering if the entry has not grown completely beyond its Wikipedia origins; in which case it would be appropriate to remove the notice. This is no longer the mediocre article it began from! Congratulations to all who have contributed to its rewrite and additions.

One additional suggestion, however. The current version is a bit top-heavy on philosophers. Although Robbie Burns is mentioned, there is no discussion to follow. As I understand it, his role was quite distinct and distinctive and added important cultural dimensions to the Scottish Enlightenment. Could we get some additional discussion of this as well? (I'm going to raise this point with the Literature workgroup as well.)

Roger Lohmann 18:36, 9 April 2008 (CDT)

Removal of "Important Scottish Enlightenment figures" list

Please don't misunderstand this removal. I like lists. They're lots of fun. But a Book of Lists is not an Encyclopedia. Further, after reading the article on clusters it appears that this listing of important Scottish Enlightenment figures better belongs as a table subpage:

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Subpage_Pilot

However, I'm not thoroughly familiar with these new features. Could someone knowledgable about such matters please respond to let me know whether my intention to remove the list to a subpage (specifically a table subpage) is the right thing to do? And point me to an example so that I can figure out how to construct it?

James F. Perry 16:31, 7 August 2007 (CDT)