Welcome to the second part of this tour about the freedom of Amsterdam. This walk starts with Ren&eacute; Descartes, and ends with Benedictus de Spinoza, both philosophers.We are now standing in front of the house where Descartes lived in 1634. You can read that on the brick on the facade. On the bottom there is a sentence in French. It says in English: 'In what other country can people enjoy such total freedom?'Descartes appreciated the freedom of the Netherlands, and especially of Amsterdam. That is why he left Paris. Here in Amsterdam he could think and write undisturbed.At this location, Descartes further developed the ideas that he already had in France. His very first book dates from 1637 and is called 'About the method'. On your screen you can see the title page of this book. The Latin translation of this book was published here in Amsterdam, at publishing house Elsevier. This publishing house is still in business today.&nbsp;At the next stop, I will tell you about Descartes's most influential idea that he wrote about in 'About the Method'.&nbsp;

Westermarkt 6: the house of Descartes

This tile has a famous quote by Ren&eacute; Descartes on it. &ldquo;I think, therefore I am.&rdquo; It seems like a simple quote, but it is actually a conclusion he reached after a long thinking process.Descartes was looking for certainty. He wondered: what can I know for sure? To find that out, he decided that if you can doubt something even a little bit, it must be rejected. It cannot be indubitable knowledge.An opinion can change, which means it cannot be a certainty. In the same way, everything you can see and hear cannot be a certainty, because your senses can deceive you. You might think you see a friend, for example, but when they come closer, you see it is a stranger. According to Descartes, you can never know for sure whether your senses present you with true knowledge or not.In his doubting experiment, he discovered that there is something he knows for sure: he knows that there is always something that doubts. Himself! He can doubt every single thing he thinks, but not the fact that he is doubting. In his own words: 'I think, therefore I am.'That is why he says, as you can read on the tile: 'While I was trying in this way to think everything to be false it had to be the case that I, who was thinking this, was something.'He now has a basis for the rest of his philosophy.Descartes's doubting experiment is seen as the beginning of modernity and the Enlightenment, in which individual freedom, science, and thinking for yourself take center stage.

Tile Westermarkt: I think, therefore I am

We are now at the Westerkerk, the Wester Church. This Protestant church was built between 1620 and 1631, shortly before Descartes came to live in Amsterdam.Descartes considered himself a Catholic. Starting from that first certainty that he himself existed, he derived the existence of God.But despite the fact that Descartes believed in God, many church leaders saw him as a threat, because for a moment he doubted the existence of God.&nbsp;Putting your own thinking first, was very uncommon back then. The church leaders were afraid that not everybody would be able to derive the existence of God using their own reason. The stability of society would be jeopardized if everyone would start thinking for themselves and the rules of church would not be followed as strictly anymore.A lot of people and church leaders therefore thought that Descartes's philosophy should be prohibited &ndash; which then also actually happened. At many places it was forbidden to even refer to the philosophy of Descartes.&nbsp;But this did not help. Quickly, his philosophy was called 'the new philosophy' throughout Europe. At many places, his philosophy was extensively discussed. I will give many examples of this later on in this walk.The theologian Gisbertus Voetius was one of Descartes's greatest opponents in the Netherlands. He wrote an official declaration condemning Descartes's philosophy signed by eight out of the ten professors of the University of Utrecht.I have translated it for you. The declaration goes as follows:&ldquo;Us professors of the University of Utrecht reject this new philosophy, first of all because it competes with the older and goes against its foundations, second of all because it distracts the youth from their studies, which leads to them not understanding acadamic terms anymore. Finally, not only because out of this new doctrine many incorrect and unreasonable notions follow, but also because unripe fellows can make deductions about it, that go against other sciences and faculties and especially against the true theology.&rdquo;What if in the future another thinker like Descartes says we should think completely differently. How would you react? Would you be open to that or not? Can you imagine that not everyone would like someone who questions everything?Let us know your answer on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Vrijheid-van-Amsterdam-242478746558870/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebookpage</a> vrijheidvanamsterdam or by emailing info@vrijheidvanamsterdam.nl. We would LOVE to hear your answers. Chances are, we will post them on the homepage of vrijheidvanamsterdam.nl. Of course, it is up to you if you want your name up there, too.

The Westerkerk: Descartes and God

Descartes wanted to think for himself and his books encouraged a lot of people to also think for themselves, including various philosophers of Amsterdam that we will meet later on in this tour.While walking to the next stop, you can wonder about what you think 'thinking for yourself' actually means. How do you know if you are thinking for yourself? And is thinking the same as believing or doubting, or is there a difference?Descartes says that by thinking for yourself you can ultimately see the truth clearly. Do you agree with that? And can you give examples of this?

Continue walking: believing, doubting and thinking for yourself

Imagine seeing a group of people right here, talking to each other on the street. If you would stop and listen, you would hear that they are talking about politics or religion. This could really happen in seventeenth-century Amsterdam.This was the effect of Descartes' doubting experiment. It made more and more people discuss and think about all sorts of things.A group of people that called themselves 'the Collegiants', discussed Descartes's philosophy extensively. They were liberal Christians. This meant that they only had a few rules about how to exercise their faith. They thought it was important to be tolerant towards people that thought differently and people of a different cultural background. They founded an orphanage for children not far from here.&nbsp;The founder of the Amsterdam Collegiant Group lived at Prinsengracht 234. His name was Adam Boreel. Unfortunately, this seventeenth-century house has not stood the test of time.Most of the Collegiants did not live in Amsterdam, by the way, but in Rijnsburg, a small village near Leiden. As you can see on your screen, a street is named after them.

Prinsengracht 234: Collegiants

You can now see a tile with a quote by Lodewijk Meijer. Meijer was one of the managing directors of the first theater of Amsterdam. That theater was located here, at this exact spot. You can still tell by the golden letters on the gate. Meijer regularly attended the Collegiants's meetings.He was a follower of Descartes, and wrote a book with which he continued Descartes's thought. The title of his book was Philosophy as the Interpreter of Holy Scripture.This was published in 1666. In it he criticized churches for their battle towards other churches. Churches did not preach love, according to him, but hate.Meijer thought it was important that everybody tried to understand the holy scriptures themselves. You should not assume things to be true on good faith.That is why he wrote the quote you can see on the tile: 'Under the title of philosophy, we understand not opinions and conjectures of others, but true and indubitably certain knowledge concerning the nature of things, which reason, free from any veiling prejudice draws forth.' He meant that we should use our own reason to think. Another word for 'thinking for yourself' is 'philosophy', according to him.The courageous publisher Jan Rieuwertsz, whom we met in the first part of this walk, published this book anonymously. Meijer wanted to stay anonymous because he expected that the book would be met with a lot of resistance.And he was right: it was prohibited immediately. But nonetheless, the book was distributed throughout Europe, just like the book by Descartes. Meijer's book also became the subject of many heated discussions.It was no coincidence that Meijer was one of the managing directors of the Amsterdam theater. Meijer thought that ordinary people should be able to gain knowledge and be encouraged to think for themselves, in an easy way. A way of doing that was through the theater. On your screen you can see what the theater looked like on the inside: on the left the auditorium, on the right the stage.

Tile Keizersgracht 384: the first theater

The theater was visited by many philosophers. The most important philosopher of Amsterdam, Spinoza, often visited the theater. He was a good friend of Meijer. For a long time, his books were falsely attributed to Spinoza.Another philosopher called Franciscus van den Enden came to the theater a lot, too. He was a teacher of Spinoza. I will tell you more about him at the next stop.For a long time, it was thought that Spinoza was a solitary figure, someone who came up with ideas in isolation. But this was not true. It was quite the opposite: Spinoza knew many people. He discussed a lot of ideas with a group of people in Amsterdam. This group is called the Amsterdamse Spinozakring.Spinoza was of Jewish descent. In seventeenth-century Amsterdam it was very easy as a Jew to meet people of different beliefs and backgrounds and even to become friends with them. All those people who thought differently probably helped him develop his own ideas.What do you think? Can you think better on your own or better when you talk to others? And does it matter who those others are?

Continue walking: Amsterdamse Spinozakring, Amsterdam Spinozacircle

This is where the philosopher Franciscus van den Enden had a Latin school. He was inspired by Descartes and he taught his pupils to be critical and independent thinkers. One of these pupils was Spinoza.Van den Enden was a strong advocate of democracy. On this tile he explains in one sentence why: 'Nobody can deny that the whole is greater than its part. Also the wisdom and knowledge of a whole people is greater than the knowledge of a few among the same people.'According to Van den Enden, when people with different backgrounds and different experiences consult each other, they make better decisions. This was a bold statement at the time, because almost everyone was against democracy back then.On your screen you can see the title page of the book in which he explains his ideas about democracy. It is called: Free Political Statements.Van den Enden was a modern thinker for his time. He had a strong aversion to slavery. Slave trade was an important source of income in Amsterdam. Van den Enden was one of the first to openly oppose this. With that he showed that he dared to swim against the current.He also thought that everyone had the right to go to school. The government had to take care of general education. This was also a modern idea back then. All in all, Van den Enden was far ahead of his time.

Tile Singel 267: the Latin school

Nowadays, many people think democracy is the best form of government, because all the citizens of a country play a part in decision-making. But there are also a few downsides to democracy. Not everyone wants to vote or delve into the views of the various political parties.Besides that, if you can vote every four years (like in the Netherlands), the short term will be more important than the long term. Politicians are less likely to take measures that have a negative effect within those four years, because they want to be re-elected! For example, taking measures to protect the environment sometimes have unpleasant consequences in the short term, but they are necessary in the long term.What do you think about democracy? If you were allowed to choose how your country was governed, what would you choose? If you would choose democracy, do you also know how to solve the downsides? Or do you think there are no disadvantages to democracy? Do not forget to let us know your answer on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Vrijheid-van-Amsterdam-242478746558870/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebookpage</a> or by emailing info@vrijheidvanamsterdam.nl

Continue walking: thinking about democracy

This is where the library of the University of Amsterdam is located. On the facade on the left you see an emblem with the name Menasseh Ben Israel. He was also one of Spinoza's teachers.The university library honors Menasseh Ben Israel with this emblem because in 1626 he founded his own printing office in Amsterdam. He was one of the first in the Netherlands to print books in Hebrew, so that Jews could read them. You will hear more about him later on in this tour.On your screen you see the sculpture that can be seen at the top left on library's facade. It stands for knowledge and science.

Singel 425: University Library

We are now standing in front of the Rasphuispoort. This was a prison, where the prisoners had to grate wood. This grated wood was used to make paint. On your screen you can see some of those grating prisoners.The doctor and philosopher Adriaan Koerbagh was a prisoner here. He was punished for writing a book in which he criticized the church. He placed reason above dogma, and advocated clear use of language.&nbsp;According to Koerbagh, the authorities deliberately kept the people dumb, by using words that most people did not understand. That is why the tile says: 'It does not make something true, or change a thing in any way, to say I cannot understand it but I believe it, these are mere empty words that signify nothing.'In 1668 he wrote a book in which he called miracles, hell, heaven, the devil and angels, fantasies. The owner of the printing office was so shocked by what Koerbagh wrote, that he betrayed him.Koerbagh was locked up in the Rasphuis for ten years, and after that he was banned from Amsterdam for another ten years. On top of that, he got a fine for six thousand guilders, a huge amount of money back then. &nbsp;Koerbagh only stayed in this building for a few months. He died a year later in a different part of the Rasphuis.On the gate you can see a Latin text. It says something like: &ldquo;Wild beasts should be tamed&rdquo;. The beasts are supposed to be the convicts. By making them work, you would raise the convicts all over again. This is an idea by Coornhert. On our way to the next stop, I will tell you more about him.Nowadays we find it very normal that corporal punishments are abolished. We see this as a humanization of the punitive system.You can wonder though, if it is really more humane that we punish the mind of the convicts nowadays, instead of the body. Something to think about while we walk to the next stop.

Tile Rasphuispoort: Koerbagh

While we walk to the next stop, I will tell you more about the sixteenth-century thinker Coornhert that we already encountered in the first part of this walk. You can see a portrait of him on your screen.Back in the sixteenth century, Coornhert opposed corporal punishments like torture. He thought that everyone deserved a second chance. You should not punish criminals, but raise them all over again.The city council adopted Coornhert's ideas. The result was that male prisoners had to work in the Rasphuis. Female prisoners had to spin in the Spinhuis.What do you think? Do all criminals deserve a second chance? When do they and when do they not?Want to know more? Visit the <a href="http://www.torturemuseum.nl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Torture Museum</a>. It is close by. You can discover which corporal punishments were used back then. In the text box on your screen, you can always find the websites if I give you a recommendation.

Continue walking: Coornhert

Here you see the gate of the Atheneum Illustre, the precursor of the University of Amsterdam, founded in 1632. It was located at the Agnietenkapel, the chapel you can see behind the gate.&nbsp;Science became more and more important in the seventeenth century and a lot of people were curious about all the new discoveries and knowledge. Back then, Amsterdam was not allowed to found a university, this was only allowed in Leiden.Leiden wanted to keep it that way, because they were afraid that students would move to the more popular Amsterdam.That is why this was called the Atheneum Illustre. Vossius and Barlaeus, two philosophers from Amsterdam that were known internationally, gave classes here. At the opening in 1632 both Vossius and Barlaeus held a lecture.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Barlaeus told about the wise merchant, that combined wisdom with an entrepreneurial drive or love for trading. On your screen you can see a portrait of Barlaeus.Vossius and Barlaeus were incredibly popular. Some people came to Amsterdam just to follow their lessons, both students and day-trippers. The Agnietenkapel was regularly at capacity. Since then, two high schools in Amsterdam were named after these two philosophers: the Barlaeus and the Vossius Gymnasium.

Oudezijds Voorburgwal 231: Atheneum Illustre

Earlier on, you encountered the philosopher Franciscus van den Enden, Spinoza's teacher who founded a Latin school. Before he had a Latin school, he owned an art store, which was located here.Unfortunately, he did not earn enough with his art store and he went bankrupt. His next venture, the Latin school, was thankfully much more successful.Fun thing to think about while you walk to the next stop: how would you prefer to make money? And why would you want to do that?

Nes 63: Art store Van den Enden

Earlier on I told you about Ren&eacute; Descartes. You can see a tile here with another quote by him. The quote on the tile is: &ldquo;Great things can happen once you have found one thing that you can be absolutely sure about.&rdquo; That first certainty was according to him: 'I think, therefore I am.'His ideas were certainly great. Or at least they had a massive influence.Descartes was, for example, one of the first to look at the world as if it was one big, complicated machine. The laws of nature determine how that machine works. This thought was very influential, because if nature is a complicated machine, you can try and understand it.The well-known physicist Isaac Newton read Descartes's work. He looked for the reason why everything falls downwards. This is how he discovered gravity.Besides a philosopher, Descartes was also a good physicist and mathematician. And if that was not enough, he also studied dead animals. This is how he tried to understand the complicated machines of nature.That is why you can find a tile here. On the corner of the building, you can see a gable stone which dates from 1644.&nbsp;Back then, there were so-called 'meat halls' here, where meat was sold. Descartes often bought organs here so he could study them.&nbsp;The stone shows how meat was inspected. On the stone you can see in great detail what a slaughtered cow and a slaughtered sheep look like on the inside.&nbsp;You can also see this gable stone on your screen.&nbsp;Descartes lived at many different places in this neighborhood. He lived at the Kalverstraat for example, which is called that way because many calves ('kalveren' in Dutch) were slaughtered on that street. He also studied the organs of calves there.&nbsp;And he lived at 'Den ouden prins', an inn which was located at Damsquare and was demolished to build city hall.&nbsp;&nbsp;Descartes lived at many places in Amsterdam, but also in a lot of different Dutch cities, amongst which Utrecht, Leiden, Egmond and Deventer.Descartes was a very versatile, dynamic and intelligent man. But no matter how intelligent he was, he made a big mistake in his thinking. I will tell you about that while you walk to the next stop.

Tile Nes 45: a complicated machine

According to Descartes, nature is a complicated machine. This machine is material and it includes all material substances, like our body that is made of flesh and blood.Our mind is something completely different than material substances, according to Descartes. Our mind is not determined by laws, but is completely free. With our mind we can try and understand the material. This strict divide between body and mind is what we call the dualism of Descartes.It became clear during his life how problematic this was. If the mind and the body are completely separate, how can they communicate? How is it possible that if I want to raise my right hand, my body will actually go and do that? This problem in Descartes's thinking is known as the problem of interaction.The first person who noticed this was a good friend of his, Princess Elizabeth of the Palatinate. Many great philosophers have since tried to solve this problem.Spinoza saw a way of dealing with this problem and with his solution he helped science move forward. I will tell you more about this further on in this walk.On your screen you can see a book with the title Descartes' Error by Antonio Damasio, a contemporary neuroscientist who conducts research about the human mind. In this book he opposes the age-old thought that body and mind are two separate aspects of humans. He wrote another book that is called Looking for Spinoza.

Continue walking: Descartes's mistake

The world-famous British philosopher John Locke probably lived on the Damstraat, but we do not know where exactly because he went into hiding. He supported the wrong party in his home country England and was wanted by the government. Even in Amsterdam he was in danger.He kept hidden so well that we still are not sure where he lived. That is why you can find his tile on the bridge. We do know for sure that he lived at many different places in Amsterdam.According to Locke, our mind at birth is comparable with a blank slate (the brain has not yet stored any knowledge at that point). Our experiences fill that blank piece of paper with knowledge.This means that according to Locke, all people are equals at birth: every human is a blank slate. This fundamental equality is very important in his work.He also stated that every human is the agent of his own life and should be able to shape their own life. Nobody is allowed to take away that freedom. This is what he meant with the quote on the tile: &lsquo;Every man has a &ldquo;property&rdquo; in his own &ldquo;person". This nobody has any right to but himself.'Locke is seen as one of the most important founders of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On your screen you can see a portrait of him.Do you also think that every person should be able to shape their own lives? Every person on earth? If so, who should make sure that all those people have the ability to do so?

Tile Bridge Damstraat: Locke

In the arch above the door you can read in golden letters 'Theatrum Anatomicum'. Not just dead animals were studied here, but doctors also examined the bodies of deceased people.In 1632 Rembrandt painted his famous work 'The Anatomy Lesson' here. You can see the painting on your screen. On this painting you see doctor Nicolaes Tulp explaining how veins, muscles and tendons run through the forearm.Through the anatomical research there was more and more knowledge about the human body and about where diseases came from. Doctor Nicolaes Tulp, for example, discovered that smoking is bad for the lungs.Just like Descartes, Locke, who we encountered earlier on in this walk, also conducted anatomical research on animals.Want to know more? Visit the <a href="https://waag.org/nl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Waag Society</a>, you can find a big replica of Rembrandt's painting here. You can also look into their art, science, mechanics and society program.

De Waag: Theatrum Anatomicum

From now on, we will talk a lot about the Jewish philosopher Spinoza and the part of seventeenth-century Amsterdam where many Jews lived. Unlike most other cities in Europe, there was no ghetto in Amsterdam where people of a certain faith were forced to live.In Amsterdam, Jews had much more freedom than in other cities. Spinoza could easily become friends with people of a different religion, I told you about this earlier in the walk.Just like Descartes and Locke, Spinoza thought it was important to understand nature. His job made this clear: he was a lens grinder. With these lenses he could see things that were too small or too far away to see with the naked eye. By using these lenses, micro-organisms in water, planets and stars could be studied.Spinoza was also influenced by thinkers from the rest of Europe. He met the English philosopher Francis Bacon through books. Bacon emphasized the importance of empirical observations to generate knowledge. According to him, knowledge starts with looking around you. On your screen you can see a portrait of Bacon.What do you think? If you just look closely enough, can you understand the whole world? Or do you need more for that? And do you think that someday, or maybe even soon, we can understand everything? If so, would this make us more free? Or less?

Continue walking: understanding more and more

We are now standing at the Trippenhuis. This almost palace-like building was built around 1660 by the brothers Trip, who got rich through the sales of weapons. The inside of the building is richly decorated with paintings.Nowadays, you can find the KNAW here. That is short for The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and it was founded in 1851. But the basis for this scientific institute was made much earlier, in the seventeenth century.In the seventeenth century, science became more and more important. Not only in Amsterdam. In London, The Royal Society was founded in 1660 with the aim to promote scientific knowledge. The founders met weekly to do scientific experiments. Similar groups were established in Amsterdam.Since 1731, The Royal Society in London has been awarding the Copley Medal, a prize for outstanding scientific research. This was the first science award in the world and it still exists today. The winner can be active in any kind of scientific field. You can see an image of the Copley Medal on your screen.What do you think is the best scientific discovery ever, that deserves a medal? Do not forget to let us know your answer on our<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Vrijheid-van-Amsterdam-242478746558870/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Facebookpage</a> or by emailing info@vrijheidvanamsterdam.nl

Kloveniersburgwal 29: Trippenhuis and KNAW

In 1656 the Jewish scholar Rabbi Morteira (who you can see on your screen) cursed Spinoza. This curse goes as follows:&ldquo;Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down and cursed be he when he rises up. Cursed be he when he goes out and cursed be he when he comes in.&rdquo;Even though he was only 24, Spinoza was cursed because he had 'bad opinions'. He probably had a too independent mind for the Jewish community of that time.&nbsp;For example, he had used Dutch laws to avoid debts that he had inherited from his father. Using Dutch laws was very unusual in the Jewish community.Spinoza also thought differently about god. He might have already started talking about these ideas when he was 24, and that might have been part of the reason why he was cursed. I will tell you more about this as we walk to the next stop.

Tis Fris: Rabbi Morteira

This is where a different Rabbi lived: Menasseh Ben Israel. I talked a bit about him when we were at the University Library.Menasseh Ben Israel was a Jewish teacher of Spinoza. He was a cosmopolitan, a man of the world, a man with many international contacts.He was called 'the reconciler', because he wanted to build bridges between contradictions. He thought that the truth of faith and the truth of science had to be able to exist next to each other. Spinoza followed him in this opinion.&nbsp;On your screen you can see a portrait of Menasseh Ben Israel, drawn by Rembrandt.What do you think? Do you think the truth of faith and the truth of science are reconcilable? How so? Are there different kinds of truths, or can there be only one truth?

Jodenbreestraat 4: Menasseh Ben Israel

While we walk to the next stop, I will tell you more about the Spinoza family. Spinoza's parents had fled from Portugal to Amsterdam, because Amsterdam was much more tolerant towards people of a different religion. In those days, Jews in Portugal were forced to become Catholics.Spinoza's parents are now buried in the Jewish cemetery in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, a little village near Amsterdam. On your screen you can see the grave of Spinoza's mother. The tomb of Menasseh Ben Israel can also be found there.Many other, often richly decorated graves from the seventeenth century have been preserved there. This shows that there were a lot of Jews in Amsterdam, and also that they had a good life here. This was another difference compared to other cities: in many other cities, if you had a different religious background, it was not as easy to make a lot of money.Visit the <a href="https://jck.nl/nl/locatie/joods-historisch-museum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jewish Historical Museum</a> if you want to know more about the history of the Jews in Amsterdam.

Continue walking: Jews in Amsterdam

As you can read on the stone on the facade, you could find a Jewish synagogue here from 1618 to 1675 called 'de Herschepping&rsquo;. I mentioned earlier that it was really remarkable that Jews were allowed to build a synagogue at that time.This was the very first synagogue. Unfortunately, it no longer exists. The memorial stone on the facade is the only thing that reminds us of this synagogue.It was in this synagogue that Spinoza was cursed in 1656. Many years before that, another Jewish philosopher called Uri&euml;l da Costa was cursed. The reason was that he had criticized the Jewish religion: he did not believe in the immortality of the soul and he found rituals meaningless.He was severely punished: he was banned from the Jewish community. Now in those days, it was quite difficult to survive without a community. So when he wanted to re-enter, he had to undergo a punishment.The punishment was that all members of the Jewish congregation were allowed to step over him, as a sign of disrespect. The saying 'walking over someone' has got everything to do with this penalty. It happened here, where this new building is standing now. He suffered so much from this humiliation that he committed suicide.On your screen you can see an image of Da Costa with Spinoza as a child. This painting was made much later, in the nineteenth century.In 1675 a new synagogue replaced the old one. This one is beautifully preserved: it is the large building you can see if you walk straight ahead, a little bit past the next stop.Want to know more? Visit the <a href="https://jck.nl/nl/locatie/portugese-synagoge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Portuguese Synagogue</a>. The building is still in use as a house of prayer, but often open for visitors.

Waterlooplein 135-165: Da Costa and the old Synagogue

Here, where this church is now, used to be the house where Spinoza lived as a young child. Unfortunately, we do not know where he was born. Spinoza later became an important philosopher.In Spinoza's ideas everything revolved around God. To explain Spinoza's view on God, I ask you to look around you. You see all sorts of things, such as houses, the sidewalk, cars, mopeds, market stalls, trash cans. According to Spinoza, all things that exist, exist IN God.God is greater than everything, it is the infinite reality where all existing and not yet existing things arise from. Also mankind, including you, your muscles, your blood circulation, your brain, emotions and your thoughts. And the earth, the moon, the sun, the cosmos.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is all related to each other, influences each other and is dependent on each other. It happens according to laws and laws can be understood.According to Spinoza, there is no God that exists outside or above nature, that rules everything and sees and knows everything. Spinoza had a completely different view on God than most people in the seventeenth century.The God of the Christians for example, was a kind of person, often imagined as an almighty man. A person that judges us, and punishes people or rewards them. This God stands above the laws of nature and can even change them. And this God is good: he makes sure your life is good as long as you live good.Especially that last idea was something people did not want to lose. But that was a consequence of Spinoza's philosophy: according to him, there is no good God that exists outside of nature.With this thought he solved the problem of Descartes's philosophy. Earlier on in the tour we called this the problem of interaction: how can a non-material mind control a material body?According to Spinoza, body and mind are not very different, like Descartes said, but two sides of the same divine whole.Spinoza said that the human mind works according to laws, just like all things that are all part of nature. Which means you can try to understand the human mind. This was a revolutionary idea! The human mind itself became an object of study.This insight can make you happier: if you can understand the causes of other people's unpleasant behavior, you are less bothered by it. That is why Spinoza says: 'You must not deride, bewail or execrate human actions, but understand them.'On your screen you can see the title page of the book in which Spinoza explains all this. Spinoza died in 1677, which means this book was published after his death.

Tile corner the Moses and Aaron Church: house of Spinoza

We are now standing at city hall. If you walk into the city hall a bit, you can see a small square tile in the covered street. It says &ldquo;Caute&rdquo;, a rose and Spinoza's initials.This was Spinoza's wax seal. He used this to seal his letters. Caute means 'beware' or 'be cautious'. Spinoza's name in Spanish means thorn, that is why he chose a rose with thorns as a symbol.If you walk further into the town hall you will come across three of these tiles. You can also see the wax seal on your screen.Now that you know a bit more about Spinoza, you might understand why he had this as a wax seal: by giving his own opinion, he was in great danger. The only book he published during his lifetime was immediately prohibited.It was seen by many people as the most dangerous book ever published. They said it came directly from hell and was written by the devil himself.As you can understand, Spinoza had many enemies. The book was published by Jan Rieuwertsz in Amsterdam. That was the brave publisher I mentioned in the first part of this tour.Luckily, Spinoza's books were published at some point, because Spinoza's idea that the human mind was something that could be studied led to a whole new scientific field. For example, neuroscientists are now doing research about the human brain to find out more about the causes of human behavior.

City hall: beware!

We will now walk over the busy market to the next stop. In the meantime you can think a bit more about Spinoza's ideas. Spinoza believes that everything has a cause. And everything exists inside God.This insight makes it easier to be at peace with all the unpleasant things that happen in your life and with the unpleasant people you are dealing with. Horrible events and unpleasant people all have causes and are part of a lawful whole.This thought can make you feel freer, because you can accept that the world is exactly as it is supposed to be and you no longer try to change things that you cannot change anyway.According to Spinoza, you do not get this freedom and peace of mind without doing anything. You get it by practicing, and by trial and error.What do you think of this outlook on life? Do you like it or not at all?

Continue walking: Spinoza's ideas

This walk ends at the statue of Spinoza. On the base of the statue you can find a quote by Spinoza: 'The purpose of the state is freedom'. Spinoza thought a lot about how people can live together peacefully and safely. A peaceful and safe society is perhaps the most valuable thing there is, Spinoza thought.According to Spinoza, to create such a society, democracy is the best form of government. In a democracy, citizens decide together what the laws must be. That makes it easier to obey the law.Spinoza thought it was important that the state ensured freedom of religion. People have different backgrounds and that means that people have different reasons for their behavior. These reasons cannot be easily changed and therefore, according to Spinoza, forbidding different religions makes no sense.To show this idea of Spinoza, the sculptor has sculpted parakeets in the mantle of Spinoza. These birds are not native to the Netherlands, but now you can see them everywhere. On your screen you can see what these birds look like. They symbolize people who have a different religion and now live here. Even people with a different background must be able to follow their convictions, says Spinoza, trying to stop that does not help with anything.But at the same time, according to Spinoza, freedom of religion should never mean that people abuse their religion to restrict the freedom of others. Everyone can think, say and write what they want, as long as they do not harm others.Without the thoughts of seventeenth-century philosophers such as Descartes and Spinoza, values such as freedom and 'thinking for yourself' might not have become so important. You can choose what you believe, who your partner is and what job you have.Without the ideas of Descartes and Spinoza and without the freedom of Amsterdam, your life - and perhaps you yourself - would have been very different.Do you think you have a lot of freedom? Do you want to have even more freedom? Or maybe you would like to be less free?You can let us know your answers, but also other remarks, on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Vrijheid-van-Amsterdam-242478746558870/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebookpage</a> vrijheidvanamsterdam or by emailing info@vrijheidvanamsterdam.nl.

Statue of Spinoza: end of the tour

This is part 2 of the tour 'the freedom of Amsterdam'. Part 2 tells you all about a lot of seventeenth-century philophers from Amsterdam and their influence.

Amsterdam

Extended tour part 2 (16+) 'Freedom of Amsterdam': from Descartes to Spinoza

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