The impact of Spinoza's criticism of the religious phenomenon along with its relation
to human beingshas been greatly evident on theintellectual climate of modern philosophy
in general, and the Study of the philosophy of religion that emerged with
Kant later in
particular.Thus, we can assert that the philosophical trend of Spinoza has paved the wayfor
Kant’s researches to go on in this direction.Consequently, his researches have been
influenced by the achievements of the intellectual and cultural environment that prevailed
at that time; from Bruno and Descartes to Copernicus and Galileo walked libertarian
direction of mental ahead in the criticism of the principles underlying philosophical and
natural thought in the sixteenth and seventeenth century، but none of those have had the
intellectual courage to put religion into criticism. Especially, withina religious environment
that has been dominated by exceptional religiosityin order to face the expected danger of
philosophers and thinkers.
Within this atmosphere of exceptional religiosity, Spinoza has logically criticized all
sacred things of his time such as: the Holy Bible, the nature of God, the relationship
between faith and reason, the concept of miracle, prophecy, and the afterlife. He has raised
many doubts aboutthe whole religious phenomenon calling for conducting many
researches and teststhat might lay bare the hidden truth that religion claimed to have and
being the everlasting salvation for human kind.By doing so, he has created a novel
philosophical trend that has been known today as the philosophy of religion.
Rationality is by far the luckiest philosophical concept in so far as its controversial status is concerned. It is also one of the terms most liable to rejection, criticism and analysis. Hence, our paper is an attempt to unscramble the controversy re
lating to tuning the term of rationality into a concept that denotes multiple significations in the era of modern philosophy, and which are considered the real foundation of what today's world has reached in its intellectual, scientific and social aspects.
According to this terminological and conceptual context, we have tried in this paper to shed special light on the genealogy of the concept of rationality, its origins and evolution as a trend in modern European thought, given that it is a signifier that denotes the priority of the mind, and which derives from various meanings that are complementary at times, yet contradictory at others, whereby carrying multiple significations, that vary in accordance with its field of use. With a certain degree of special attention, we have also tried to glean some of the most basic meanings associated with the term of rationality. We hope that this way we may be able to clarify the obscurity that engulfs the term, something which has caused its ambiguity, and thus our confused understanding of the philosophy of modernity.
