On a rainy Friday, an excavator digs holes in the ground in a former parking lot on Jansstraat. The machine blocks my view of the saying ‘He who does not doubt, does not learn’ on the wall above the heads of the men who are doing unclear things to me with cables in the ground. They don’t seem to hesitate, they do their work with purpose. What’s going on?, I ask the foreman. “Digging,” he answers with a polite smile. We are laying extra cables so that sufficient electricity will soon be available. Just close it and the text on the wall is visible from all sides again.
On a rainy Friday, an excavator digs holes in the ground in a former parking lot on Jansstraat. The machine blocks my view of the saying ‘He who does not doubt, does not learn’ on the wall above the heads of the men who are doing unclear things to me with cables in the ground. They don’t seem to hesitate, they do their work with purpose. What’s going on?, I ask the foreman. “Digging,” he answers with a polite smile. We are laying extra cables so that sufficient electricity will soon be available. Just close it and the text on the wall is visible from all sides again.
By Marianne Overbeeke
Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert (1522 – 1590), the writer of the saying on the wall, was born in Amsterdam as the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. Dirck moved to Haarlem with his new wife in 1541, making him one of the first Amsterdammers to exchange the capital for our city. Fun fact: the letters of the word doubts all have a different shape, to emphasize that you can only progress through doubt and research.
Turbulent time
Coornhert lived in a politically turbulent time, when the Netherlands broke away from the Spanish ruler. As William of Orange’s right-hand man, he supported the fight for freedom. He is considered one of the most important 16the century thinkers and he emphasized the importance of thinking for yourself. Coornhert expressed his beliefs in more than 150 books, plays and other writings. He considered ‘Treat others as you would like to be treated’ as the foundation of philosophy, religion and a just society. This led to his second rule: freedom of belief for all.
Coornhert is said to have raised his eyebrows at the firmness with which the current debate is being conducted, especially on social media. Nuance and doubt seem to be out of fashion. Admitting that you don’t know something, or showing that you have doubts: it can feel like a defeat. Sometimes we are completely convinced of our own truth and mainly want to prove that the other person is wrong. While doubt and wonder are still universal truths. Even though we have much more information at our disposal than in Coornhert’s time, his appeal is still relevant: ‘he who does not doubt does not learn.‘
More about Coornhert on the wall at www.literairhaarlem.nl
