The order dual [Fil R R ] du of the set Fil R R of all right topologizing filters on a fixed but arbitrary ring R is a complete lattice ordered monoid with respect to the (order dual) of inclusion and a monoid operation ':' that is, in general, noncommutative. It is known that [Fil R R ] du is always left residuated, meaning, for each pair F, G ∈ Fil R R there exists a smallest H ∈ Fil R R such that H : G ⊇ F, but is not, in general, right residuated (there exists a smallest H such that G : H ⊇ F). Rings R for which [Fil R R ] du is both left and right residuated are shown to satisfy the DCC on left annihilator ideals and possess only finitely many minimal prime ideals.It is shown that every maximal ideal P of a commutative ring R gives rise to an onto homomorphism of lattice ordered monoids φP from [Fil R] du to [Fil R P ] du where R P denotes the localization of R at P . The kernel ≡ φP of φP is a congruence on [Fil R] du whose properties we explore. Defining Rad(Fil R) to be the intersection of all congruences ≡ φP as P ranges through all maximal ideals of R, we show that for commutative VNR rings R, Rad(Fil R) is trivial (the identity congruence) precisely if R is noetherian (and thus a finite product of fields). It is shown further that for arbitrary commutative rings R, Rad(Fil R) is trivial whenever Fil R is commutative (meaning, the monoid operation ':' on Fil R is commutative). This yields, for such rings R, a subdirect embedding of [Fil R] du into the product of all [Fil R P ] du as P ranges through all maximal ideals of R. The theory developed is used to prove that a Prüfer domain R for which Fil R is commutative, is necessarily Dedekind.