ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the idea that both Meister Eckhart and Heidegger were operating under the influence of the modistic emphasis on the relationship between language and reality, and that this yielded for both of them an attentiveness to what is called the principium or principle of reason, whilst acknowledging that one's awareness of its meaning must of necessity take a certain non-conceptual form. It focuses on the following discussion: this principium is the foundation of everything, the principle behind the principle of reason. The relation of language to reality that underpins modistic or speculative grammatical theories is certainly key to understanding the direction of argument within Eckhart and Heidegger; but it turn more to the strain placed on language thus conceived, when one tries to speak about the reality of the foundation or principle of all things.
