It feels good to be back in class. I do enjoy the "thrill" of reading and studying; in particular I enjoy reading and studying the great works of western civilization. This quarter my energies are primarily directed toward Hobbes and Kant, two names that don't particularly inspire the masses, I know, but all that's needed to rectify that is an ardent PR campaign.

Yesterday, did something had not done in a while: hung out with a bunch of guys without any women around. Sheldon Vanauken noted two things about male friendship that represent the spirit of our age. (1) Egalitarianism has so penetrated our society that men cannot be away from the sound of a woman's voice anywhere. (2) The acceptance of homosexuality has jaded people's opinion about the possibility of true and deep male friendship. My wife keeps pestering me to start a gentleman's club similar to the ones of aristocratic England. Of course, the phrase "gentleman's club" now denotes a place where no true gentleman would be found dead. It now means something very ungentlemanly. Similarly, Dorothy Sayers describes Christianity as a religion for adults, meaning by this it is a religion suitable to intellectually mature, rationally sophisticated, and deliberately logical reflection. Here we see the same twisting of words: "adult" now means something that stands in opposition to its former meaning. Consider the surprise of many if upon entering into an "adult bookstore" they were confronted with logic textbooks and intellectually challenging literary works in philosophy and theology. Now "adult" implies "sexual," but that implication is obviously spurious: even the juvenile may be "sexual" whereas today's "adult" may not be rational. By the by, I've always found the description "adult situations" on a movie to be somewhat funny. Adult situations? You mean like balancing the checkbook, going to work, taking care of the children?

But anyway, the plan for a true gentleman's club is on. Sorry, no ladies (or any other sort of women) allowed.