Kinneavy's Kairos: Neglected notes

James L. Kinneavy
Kairos: A Neglected Concept in Classical Rhetoric
In Rhetoric and Praxis, Ed Jean Dietz Moss, 79-105
1986, The Catholic University of America Press
Washington, D.C

80 Goal of essay to assert importance of Kairos in contemporary theory of composition and provide an extended def of Kairos
“…provisionally it might be defined as the right or opportune time to do something, or right measure in doing something. Often the two notions are joined…”
Riff: save and mark this defintion. It is important.

81 presocratic ethic Kairon gnothi: know the opportunity
81 kairos important to pre-socratics, esp. Pythagoereans
Kairos as the most important thing in every action; a low of the universe [go back for exact citation]
Gorgias: made Kairos conernerstone of his work and efforts

82 Kairos merged with prepon (propriety or fitness) in Stoicism
Dominating concept in Cicero’s ethics/rhetoric
82-3 Four scholars who helped bring Kairos back:
Augusto Rostagni; Doro Levi; Mario Untersteiner; Paul Tillich
83 situational context is modern term for Kairos
84 “…some consideration in any rhetorical theory must be given to the issue raised by the concept of kairos—the appropriateness of the discourse to the particular circumstances of the time, place, speaker, and audience involved.”

85 two basic elements in Greek kairos: right timing and the principle of a proper measure
87 kairos linked to ethics and justice (pythagoras, especially)
89 referring to Pindar, kairos was the critical moment of a story and building around that
92 Kairos linked to education in classical Greek world
Education was oriented to training people for life in the polis
“the importance of the city was the common bond of humanity that it afforded those living together and the strangers who visited them.”
Essence of polis: freed and the ability to persuade/be persuaded. Given this, education to the life of polis is heavily grounded in persuasion and kairos.
93 “Kairos, the god, was thus symbolically linked to the public educaiton program that prepared the young man for initiation into citizenship—the program, incidentally, dominated by rhetoric.”
94 Kinneavy wrote “Freshman English: An American Rite of Passage” in 1977
98 incorporating kairos means including consideration of the ethics of a situation, evaluating the values of a specific situational context
Thus, the Ss should write about ethical concerns of their interests and career choices
Ethical consequences are both social and individual
102 “Each profession as a subculture has a rhetorical obligation to alert the culture as a whole to new benefits and to new dangers.”
“And the rhetoric of the discipline means the ability to address the populace in persuasive language that will be listened to.”
103 “There is no more immediate application of the principle of kairos than establishing a real audience distinct from the classroom situation.”