Benedictus de Spinoza – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 52° 22.076 E 004° 53.956
31U E 629307 N 5803659
This quote, ‘The purpose of the state, freedom’, from philosopher Spinoza neatly sums up his philosophy in one short phrase.
Waymark Code: WMD9AX
Location: Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Date Posted: 12/08/2011
Views: 20
The quote in Dutch, ‘HET DOEL VAN DE STAAT IS DE VRIJHEID’ is carved on one end of an oval terrazzo platform which supports a statue of Benedictus de Spinoza. In English the phrase means ‘The purpose of the state, freedom’.
Spinoza was born at this site in 1632, the son of Jewish refugees. He died in 1677 of suspected lung disease related to his work as a lens grinder.
During his life he published a number of philosophical works, but is most remembered for ‘Ethics’.
He believed that all of nature is governed by a series of laws that can be understood with the help of mathematics. He advocated freedom of speech, democracy and living in harmony with nature.
Standing on the platform next to his bronze statue is an icosahderon made of solid granite and represents the universe as a model created by the human mind. An icosahderon is a regular polyhedron with 20 identical equilateral triangular faces, 30 edges and 12 vertices.
The sculptor of the statue was Nicholas Ding and unveiled on November 24th 2008, by Mayor Job Cohen and Councillor Carolien Gehrels.
Address:
Outside the City Hall
Zwanenburgwal
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Website: [Web Link]
|
Visit Instructions:
Please include the following with your submission of a visit:
1. Photograph as a proof of your visit.
2. Short narrative. Tell of your visit, share something new, edit the waymark with additional quotes found a the location, add new visiting hours or anything that would be nice to know when visiting the location.
3. Finally, please add a visit if you go to the area and you find the building, memorial, memorial or structure has been removed. Please submit an edit to the waymark adding the words {Historic/Removed} at the end. Also, edit the short description to annotate the reason it was removed for the value to other visitors.