TOWARD A MESSAGE-CENTERED THEORY OF PERSUASION: THREE EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF LANGUAGE INTENSITY1

Based on accumulated knowledge concerning the effects of language intensity on attitude change, a set of propositions were advanced that provide a skeletal theoretical framework. Based on the propositions, three separate studies were done to extend the predictive power of the formulation. Predicted interactions between sex of the source, situational anxiety, source credibility, and language intensity were obtained. There were also significant person perception changes as a result of the level of language intensity employed in the persuasive message. Discussion centered on the import of the new findings in formulating a message-centered theory of persuasion.     

RE-SITUATING SCOTIST THOUGHT

In "Duns Scotus: His Historical and Contemporary Significance", Catherine Pickstock presents several levels of a critique against Scotist thought. My response focuses upon the assumptions that ground her critique. In sum, I think that Pickstock's argument errs on two counts. While her contemporary critique may be better lodged upon the interpreters and not the Franciscan himself, her much more elaborated critique of Scotus is not well founded. I conclude my essay with a few comments about the danger of historical categories such as "voluntarism" or "intellectualism" for any authentic retrieval of a medieval thinker.     

DIONYSIUS,DERRIDA, AND THE CRITIQUE OF “ONTOTHEOLOGY”

This essay explores Dionysius' work in light of the critique of ontotheology, focusing on Jacques Derrida's work on justice and the messianic. Ultimately, it suggests that the extent to which Dionysius troubles the ontotheological waters depends on the status of hierarchical and teleological relationships in Dionysius. Does hierarchy for Dionysius function strictly “vertically,” bringing a few chosen souls into union with God, or does it also establish ethical relations between and among creatures? And does the via negativa, as Derrida suggests, draw the soul along a pre‐determined path from hyperessence to hyperessence, or might it remain sufficiently indeterminate to welcome the unimaginable?