DRAFT - NOT FOR CLASS USE

Harvard University Summer School 2016

Course: “Big Ideas, Great Thinkers”
Professor: Thomas Ponniah
Course Email: Thomas.Ponniah2@gmail.com
Office Hours: TBA

Course Description
Great thinkers have existed around the world and across time. Their ideas have been an integral
part of social, economic, cultural and political life. Their philosophical and literary contribution
has not simply been the isolated speculation of a few remarkable individuals but has extended
much further: they have shaped their communities historically and continue to form our
contemporary global society and culture. This course takes a cross-cultural historical look at
some of the most influential philosophical and literary traditions: the ancient Greek, Chinese
and Indian. In each tradition the course will examine various original writings on the following
questions: How should we organize our social, economic, cultural and political life? What is the
place of humans in the grand, cosmological, scheme of things? And how should one live one’s
life? Some of the writings that we will review to answer the above questions are those of Plato,
Aristotle, Sappho, Herodotus, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Sun Tzu, the Brahmannical
tradition and the Buddha.

Required Text
The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Volume A, 3rd Edition. (W.W. Norton & Company, New
York: 2012. General Editor: Martin Puchner, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of
English and Comparative Literature. We will also use online resources as indicated below.

Pedagogy
My teaching style emphasizes a student-centered participatory approach. I will come to class
with a series of questions related to the readings to facilitate a substantial discussion. I will open
the class with a brief presentation that explains context and key terms. The course goal is to
enable each student to articulate their own interpretations of the great texts. I will provide office
hours after every class to ensure that students can regularly check in.

Evaluation System
Reading Assignments & 10%
Participation/Attendance 10%
Presentations 10%
Essay I 35%
Essay II 35%
Total 100%

Reading Assignments (250-500 words)

Write a 250 word summary of each reading. The summary should answer the following: “what
were the three-five key ideas in the reading?” Students should include three to five citations for
every 250 words in the summary. Email a digital copy of your assignment to
(Thomas.Ponniah2@gmail.com). You must email each assignment on the morning (before
830am) that we discuss the reading.

Group Presentations

Ponniah: “Big Ideas, Great Thinkers” Harvard University

Presentations consist of a memorized, 5 minute presentation summarizing the key ideas in the
class reading.

Essays
Students are required to submit two essays (1500-2000 words each). Each essay should be
submitted via email and as a paper copy. The essay should have a cover page that includes the
student’s name, email address and ID number. The essay should have a table of contents
indicating page numbers of the major sections. The citations and bibliography should be
completed via the information found in the Harvard Guide for Using Sources (see below).

Academic integrity and other course policies

Course policies on absence, behavioral expectations, and academic integrity can be found in the
HSS Student Handbook or website.
See: http://www.summer.harvard.edu/policies/student-responsibilities.
For citations and bibliography please see the Harvard Guide to Using Sources, which is
available at http://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu.

Accessibility issues
Students with accessibility issues should get in touch with the Accessibility Services office at
Accessibility@dcemail.harvard.edu or 617-998-9640.

Class Outline
1. Introduction to Mediterranean and Near Eastern Literature and Philosophy (Norton
Anthology p. 3-22)

2. Introduction to Plato Phaedrus (Norton Anthology 1143-1148)

Plato The Apology (http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html)
Weekly Reading Assignments Begin/Group Presentations Begin

3. Plato, The Symposium (Norton Anthology 863-908)

Sappho, (Norton Anthology 635-643)

4. Introduction to Aristotle “Poetics” (Norton Anthology p.1149-1153) and

Sophocles, Antigone (Norton Anthology p. 747-782)

5. Aristophanes “Lysistrata” (Norton Anthology p. 823-862)

6. Aristotle, “Politics” (Books I and II) http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html

7. Conceptions of History:
Herodotus, Histories (Norton Anthology p.919-925)
Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War – “Pericles Funeral Oration” see Second Book,
Chapter VI.
http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.mb.txt
Sima Qian (Norton Anthology p. 1398-1416)
Essay I Due

8. Introduction to Ancient Chinese Thought (Norton Anthology p. 1311-1319)

Confucius, The Analects (Norton Anthology p. 1330-1343)

9. Basic Concepts of Taoism Part 1 (Norton Anthology p.1344-1346)

Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching (Norton Anthology: 1347-1354)
Ponniah: “Big Ideas, Great Thinkers” Harvard University
10. Basic Concepts of Taoism (Norton Anthology p. 1374-1376)
Zhuangzi Zhuangzi (Norton Anthology: p. 1374-1397)

11. Introduction to Sun Tzu, The Art of War http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html

12. Basic Concepts of the Indian Brahmannical Tradition (Norton Anthology p.1161-1170)
The Mahabharata (Norton Anthology: p. 1234-1281)

13. Introduction and Krishna Dvaipayana The Bhagavad-Gita (Norton Anthology: p.1282-1300)
Essay II Due

14. Basic Concepts of Buddhism, Sayings of Siddhartha –Gautama Buddha The Jataka (Norton
Anthology: p. 1301-1310)

Ponniah: “Big Ideas, Great Thinkers” Harvard University