Kairos revisited : the rhetorical situation and the art of becoming a rhetor

In his article "Concepts of Art and the Teaching of Writing," Richard Young points to four different conceptions of the art of rhetoric: "glamour," "knack," "grammar" and "craft." If placed on a continuum, one pole would be art as "glamour”, a genius theory of art that stresses the creative dimension of art, but frequently mystifies the creative process. The other pole would be art as "craft" or rules and norms of style and usage (131). Those who believe that art is a "gift," that the composing process is irrational and cannot be taught, leave composition teachers to perform the putative task of remediation (Berlin 35) and the transference of mechanics and/or rules (Young 131). What is at stake? A teachable, transferable art of rhetoric.

The concept of kairos, the subject of this text, is one way to examine these conflicting conceptions of art. Like the notion of art, kairos is multidimensional, and its dimensions are, at times, oppositional. If placed on continuum, ancient notions of kairos reveal a "temporal" pole, "right timing and a "normative," "proper measure" pole. The temporal can be irrational and mysterious, as in Gorgias' rhetoric (de Romilly, Vitanza). The normative side of kairos, however, approaches the notion of decorum, a key term in the Latin rhetorics of Cicero and Quintilian. Indeed, these are two distinct meanings: temporal kairos is highly contingent on the immediate exigency, while normative kairos is less contingent upon situation and more closely tied to rules or universal notions of propriety. Prepon, a Greek term meaning "that which is seemly, fitness, propriety" (L&S 1234) merges with this notion of kairos (Kennedy 67, Kinneavy, Pohlenz). This merger de-emphasizes the temporal aspect of kairos. In its ancient contexts, these two meanings of kairos were kept separate; indeed, these two meanings can be viewed. as two oppositional poles of kairos. How, then, have modern rhetoricians come to combine these two meanings of kairos. into one? Perhaps more interestingly, what, if anything, lies between these poles? The complexity of kairos has given rise to confusion over its various meanings. The purpose of this text is twofold: 1) to re-examine ancient contexts of kairos and the rhetorical situation and 2) to explore the relationship between an ancient conceptions of the art of kairos and the art of rhetoric, conceptions which ultimately impinge upon the art of becoming a rhetor.