A Good Life Compass: Learning from Classical India
GENED 1215
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
How do we integrate our (often) competing academic, personal, political, and social ambitions into a good life?
What is a good life? How does it relate to personal happiness; to being a good friend, partner, citizen, or leader? What is the relative value of justice, citizenship, loyalty, friendship, personal profit, and pleasure? How do we make reasoned choices when these “values” conflict? What are our sources and models for such reasoning? When is such reasoning “ethical”? Are we all subject to the same ethical norms? Should we be? Is the good life the same for everyone?
In this course, we will explore visions of the good life by drawing on a diverse range of materials from South Asia. Specifically, we will investigate the classical framework of four spheres of human activity: social and moral order (dharma); wealth, power, personal success, and political order (artha); love, pleasure, and sexuality (kāma); and liberating freedom (mokṣa). Far from being separate realms of striving, these four spheres are often interconnected and, together, function as points on a compass for a good life. By the end of the course, we will have developed an understanding of the four spheres of human activity and how they come together for each of us into an integrative picture on which to base our own good life compass.
Class Notes
This course is part of the Gen Ed lottery and has an enrollment cap. To participate in the lottery, you must request permission to enroll by submitting a petition and ranking your choices through my.harvard by 11:59 p.m. EST Monday, November 9, 2026.
- Note: You must rank your course choices to participate in the lottery--even if you choose only one course.
The Gen Ed lottery will run Tuesday, November 10. If you are successful in the lottery, it will say “Petition Approved” in green above the course in your Crimson Cart. You will have until 11:59 p.m. EST Thursday, November 12, to select “enroll” and claim your seat. After that time, enrollment will open up to non-lottery petitioners.
For instructions on how to participate in the lottery, please visit: https://harvard.service-now.com/ithelp?id=kb_article&sys_id=c3e857c9db7d4bc4a752f1a51d96190e
For more information on the Gen Ed lottery specifically, please visit: https://gened.college.harvard.edu/courses/registration-and-lottery/
Not Available for Cross Registration
NOTE: This course requires additional sections; you will be prompted to choose secondary components during the Add to Cart process
