Despite the opinion held by some that Kant’s Critical philosophy is no longer relevant this essay shows that the problems it deals with are ever present. Kant’s critical insights into these problems can be revealed by citing his open invitation to his critical reader to devote to the first antinomy his chief attention. This paper cites Hegel’s response to this invitation and shows where Hegel failed to meet with Kant’s critical demands. An analogous resolution is proposed that falls in line not only with Kant, but with the science of big bang cosmology. An open as opposed to a closed interpretation of Kant is also argued for that leads to the judgment that Kant did not attempt to put an end to speculative metaphysics, but rather, he attempted to inspire metaphysicians to the end of a science of metaphysics.

According to Spinoza, the implications of the new scientific worldview of his time are diametrically opposed to the fundamental philosophical-theological tenets of traditional thought and religion. Yet, paradoxically, this does not bring him to the rejection of the notion of God (atheism), of notions of good and bad (cynicism), or even of ordinary religion (anti-religion). On the contrary, his philosophy as a whole can be seen as a radical reconsideration of religion in the light of the modern situation, and not at all as an exit from it. In line with the new science, Spinoza develops a new metaphysics centered on the notion Deus sive Natura (and not simply Natura), a new rational ethics (Ethics IV), and a new philosophical religion (Ethics V). The new philosophical religion, being at the same time the culmination of the ethical life, is based upon the non-anthropomorphic, but still somehow transcendent, notion of God, the one substance with infinite attributes, radically different from the modes, both finite and infinite. In the final part of this article, an attempt is made to acquire some form of inside perspective on what Spinoza may mean by true religion as consisting in amor Dei intellectualis. Anticipating Hume, Spinoza considers ordinary religion as a natural phenomenon, which he studies in detail in his Tractatus Theologico-politicus. Unlike later Enlightenment thinkers, he distinguishes between superstition and purified religion, and accepts that the latter can bring a specific kind of salvation for the common people.