Philosophy 4

At Harvard, two sunburned tennis boys, Bertie and Billy, are trapped in a late-night philosophy cram session with their polished tutor, Oscar Maironi, whose neat lecture notes seem to contain the whole course. Their slangy interruptions turn the lesson into a comic battle over perception, idealism, causation, and the ego, as they test Berkeley's claim that reality depends on ideas and discover that philosophy can be both absurd and strangely irresistible. When one boy realizes that being inconceivable does not make a thing unreal, they seize the insight for their exam and keep scribbling. Behind the humor lies a sharper contrast: Oscar is a poor, self-made, morally earnest student who tutors, scrimps, and writes for newspapers, while Bertie and Billy are wealthy, careless sophomores who have neglected their work. As exams near, the "grasshoppers" panic, hire the "ant" to save them, then mock his precious notes, skip their tutorial, and ride off into a sunlit rebellion against duty. Their escape leads to wagers, stream-wrestling, and a determined search for the Bird-in-Hand tavern, where appetite, friendship, and comic adventure briefly outrun academic dread. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.