 Much of Havelock 's work was devoted to addressing a single thesis : that all of Western thought is informed by a profound shift in the kinds of ideas available to the human mind at the point that Greek philosophy converted from an oral to a literate form . The idea has been very controversial in classical studies , and has been rejected outright both by many of Havelock 's contemporaries and modern classicists . Havelock and his ideas have nonetheless had far @-@ reaching influence , both in classical studies and other academic areas . He and Walter J. Ong ( who was himself strongly influenced by Havelock ) essentially founded the field that studies transitions from orality to literacy , and Havelock has been one of the most frequently cited theorists in that field ; as an account of communication , his work profoundly affected the media theories of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan . Havelock 's influence has spread beyond the study of the classical world to that of analogous transitions in other times and places . 
