Philosophy Made Simple Read Online Free Page B

Geografia.

    When Rudy came downstairs, TJ was demonstrating his parallel universe thesis to Dan and the girls. They’d propped up Helens old projector on the dining room table so that the beam of light was aimed at two tiny slits in a piece of tinfoil that had been fastened with a clothespin to a makeshift frame made out of a coat hanger.
    “Like Plato’s cave, Rudy, don’t you think?” TJ said. Rudy, who had drawn a new sketch of Plato’s cave while they were sitting at the kitchen table after supper, pulled up a chair and sat down.
    “Right, Rudy?” TJ said. “We’re in the cave, and this little beam of light on the wall is all we can see of the reality of the world. But what can we conclude from this little band of light? That’s the question. Can we use our minds to explore the world outside the cave?”
    Rudy was afraid he couldn’t have concluded much himself.
    “What you see,” TJ explained, “is that the two slits have divided each color — each wavelength — into two waves. When the crests of these waves overlap, you see a band of light on the wall; when a crest and a trough come together, they cancel each other out. If this were a laser projector, we’d see just light anddark, but with white light we see a rainbow The principle is the same, though. Each photon has a particular wavelength that will determine the angle at which it will have interference maxima, bright spots. The separation into different angles is what causes the rainbow effect.”
    Now this was something Rudy could almost understand. Or, if he couldn’t understand it, at least he could imagine understanding it; but he couldn’t follow the argument any further, couldn’t understand how the pattern of light on the wall led to the theory of parallel universes.
    What he really wanted to know was if these parallel universes were like Plato’s forms or ideas, but he couldn’t pin TJ down.
     TJ’s ultimate truths were not geometrical, like Plato’s; they were probability waves.
    What he really wanted to know was if Helen might be living with Bruni in a parallel universe, and if it might be possible to visit her. But he didn’t ask, because he didn’t want to appear foolish.

    Nobody said anything about the FOR SALE sign till it was almost bedtime and they were finishing off the last of a bottle of wine in front of the fire. The dogs were on the side porch, banging to get in. TJ and Dan were still at the dining room table.
    “I see you’ve got the house up for sale,” Meg said.
    “Oh, that.”
    Molly got up to let the dogs in. Rudy suddenly realized that she’d quit smoking.
    “Molly and I’ve been talking,” Meg said. “We think it’s a great idea. This place is too big for you. You must rattle around here all by yourself. You’d be better off in an apartment, or one of those new retirement condos. Dan and I heard them talking about one on the radio on the way down, Carleton Estates,something like that. You’d have everything you need right there. A pool, a sauna. You’d have your own kitchen if you want to cook, but there’s a dining room too. The best of both worlds.”
    A
pool? A sauna? What do I need with a pool and a sauna? “
What about Margot?”
    “She’s twenty-nine years old,” Molly said. “Its about time she got a place of her own. You’re too protective. She’s got to get out in the world.”
    “Where do you think she is? She sure as hell isn’t upstairs in her room. And what about the dogs?”
    “They’re getting old, Papa. How much longer do you think they’ve got?” Molly ran her fingers through her hair. She was the beauty of the family She had Helen’s red hair and Helens golden freckles. Repeated applications of freckle cream when she was a teenager had failed to dim their luster.
    “Well, I dunno. They don’t look so old to me.”
    “We could take the dogs, Pop,” Meg said. “We’ve got plenty of room now. We were thinking of getting a dog anyway It would be good for the