I. Kant and the Tradition of Mystical Pantheism in European Philosophy

In the research based on the analysis of the works “On the form and principles of the sensory and intelligible world” and “The only possible basis for proving the existence of God,” it is proved that I. Kant consciously based his philosophical system on the metaphysics of mystical pantheism, according to which the earthly world is the result of the “internal” transformation of the apophatic Absolute, and human consciousness must be considered as an act of the Absolute that realizes this transformation. With this approach, space and time, as forms of pure sensory contemplation, may be interpreted as an expression of the coexistence of all things in the Absolute and the constancy of their connection with the Absolute. It is precisely this understanding of them that is present in Kant’s early works. The article substantiates the assertion that the ontological proof of the existence of God constitutes an important component of Kant’s philosophy. In the pre-critical period, he had not yet completely gotten rid of his adherence to orthodox, church ideas about God, and therefore the ontological proof was contradictory and inconsistent. In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant does not reject the ontological proof, but makes it truly consistent, fully consistent with the metaphysics of mystical pantheism. What is being proven here is not the existence of God the Absolute (this is impossible, since God is Divine Nothing), but the presence in consciousness of unconditional being (“matter of perception”), which is the manifestation of the Absolute in its finit form and from which the objective world is created through acts of consciousness. The article shows the presence of many parallels between Kant’s system and the teachings of John Scotus Eriugena and Nicholas of Cusa, who created the most famous versions of mystical pantheism.