For the Dutch the Enlightenment initially sprouted during the Dutch Golden Age. Developments during this period were to have a profound influence in the shaping of western civilization, as science, art, philosophy and economic development flourished in the Dutch Republic. Some key players in the Dutch Enlightenment were: Baruch Spinoza, a philosopher who played a major role in shaping the basis for the Enlightenment; Pierre Bayle, a French philosopher who advocated separation between science and religion; Eise Eisinga, an astronomer who built a planetarium; Lodewijk Meyer, a radical who claimed the Bible was obscure and doubtful; Adriaan Koerbagh, a scholar and critic of religion and conventional morality; and Burchard de Volder, a natural philosopher.
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