Abstract

This essay deals with the contrary opinions of Thomas Aquinas and Meister Eckhart on synderesis and conscience. In his theory, Thomas Aquinas focuses more on prudence and less on conscience. Meister Eckhart is the proponent of an attitude ethics focusing on the notion of scintilla animae. For Thomas Aquinas, the Aristotelian thinker, the practical syllogism links judgement to spiritual values, whereas Meister Eckhart gives priority to self-predication. By means of self-predication, action and normativity can be combined immediately; the practical syllogism combines them in an indirect way.