User:Kst96/sandbox

Kairos Modern Rhetorical Definition First Draft
Kairos' modern English definition is vague. There is no one word in today's English language that completely encompasses the definition of kairos, similar to that of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. In his article "The Ethics of Argument: Rereading Kairos and Making Sense in a Timely Fashion," Michael Harker says, "Like the 'points' on the rhetorical triangle, the meaning of kairos is not definitive but rather a starting point for grasping the whole of an argument." Kairos' inclusion in modern composition has not been implicitly made, but there are undertones. Various components of kairos are included in modern composition and have made profound effects on modern composition theory.

Kairos' purpose in modern rhetoric is mostly focused on the placement of logos, pathos, and ethos. Kairos is used as a "starting point" in modern rhetoric. Kelly Pender's article "'Kairos' and the Subject of Expressive Discourse" states the inclusion of kairos within discourse "would try to shift the focus of personal writing from the writer's experiences and emotions to a broader perspective that explicitly concentrates on the rhetorical situation..." Kairos is an expressive inclusion within the overall subject of discourse, and one that has an effect on the entire rhetoric.

Peer Review (Landon Wilson, 24 February 2018)
This paragraph reads well, but seems to rush to the idea that readers would also be familiar with other rhetoric strategies. I don't see this section included in the current Kairos wiki, so I'm assuming that it's one that will be added in later, but as it stands right now, this passage does not clarify what kairos is, and I'm unsure what the reader is supposed to assume about the inclusion being "implicitly made," or what "undertones" exist. Can you clarify these points in your revision? Additionally, this passage mentions that there are components included in contemporary composition - which ones are they? What effects has kairos contributed to modern composition theory? The last thing I would review is the source citation; from my end, at least, the source seems to be invalid, which will most certainly cause conflict if anyone wants to dig in a little deeper into this field or Harker's article.

Kst96 (talk) 02:53, 6 March 2018 (UTC) Yeah, it's intended to be added later into the final Wiki page. I agree that it has some assumptions behind it. It was written in regards to a couple other paragraphs already included on the Kairos' Wiki, so I can include those paragraphs to differentiate what it is I personally added. I'll look into the citations and addition of some more information.

Kairos' Group Edit
Kairos (καιρός) is an Ancient Greek word meaning the right, critical, or opportune moment. The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos (χρόνος) and kairos. While t The former refers to chronological passing of time, while the latter signifies a proper or opportune time for action. What is happening when referring to kairos depends on who is using the word. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature. Kairos also means weather in Modern Greek. The plural, καιροί (kairoi (Ancient and Modern Greek)) means the times.

Origins
In Onians' 1951 etymological studies of the word, he traces the primary root back to the ancient Greek association with both archery and weaving. In archery, kairos denotes the moment in which an arrow may be fired with sufficient force to penetrate a target. In weaving, kairos denotes the moment in which the shuttle could be passed through threads on the loom.

Kairos is also an alternate spelling of the minor Greek deity Caerus, the god of luck and opportunity.

In classical rhetoric
In rhetoric, kairos is "a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved."

Kairos was central to the Sophists, who stressed the rhetor's ability to adapt to and take advantage of changing, contingent circumstances. In Panathenaicus, Isocrates writes that educated people are those “who manage well the circumstances which they encounter day by day, and who possess a judgment which is accurate in meeting occasions as they arise and rarely misses the expedient course of action".

Kairos is also very important in Aristotle's scheme of rhetoric. Kairos is, for Aristotle, the time and space context in which the proof will be delivered. Kairos stands alongside other contextual elements of rhetoric: The Audience, which is the psychological and emotional makeup of those who will receive the proof; and To Prepon, which is the style with which the orator clothes the proof.

In Ancient Greece, "kairos" was utilized by both of the two main schools of thought in the field of rhetoric. The competing schools were that of the Sophists, and that of their opposition, led by individuals such as Aristotle and Plato. Sophism approached rhetoric as an art form. Members of the school would travel around Greece teaching citizens about the art of rhetoric and successful discourse. In his article "Toward a Sophistic Definition of Rhetoric", John Poulakos defines rhetoric from a Sophistic perspective as follows: "Rhetoric is the art which seeks to capture in opportune moments that which is appropriate and attempts to suggest that which is possible." Aristotle and Plato, on the other hand, viewed Sophistic rhetoric as a tool used to manipulate others, and criticized those who taught it. Kairos fits into the Sophistic scheme of rhetoric in conjunction with the ideas of prepon and dynaton. These two terms combined with kairos are their keys to successful rhetoric. As stated by Poulakos, Prepon deals with the notion that "what is said must conform to both audience and occasion." Dynaton has to do with the idea of the possible, or what the speaker is attempting to convince the audience of. Kairos in the Sophistic context is based on the thought that speech must happen at a certain time in order for it to be most effective. If rhetoric is to be meaningful and successful, it must be presented at the right moment, or else it will not have the same impact on the members of the audience. Aristotle and his followers also discuss the importance of kairos in their teachings. In his Rhetoric, one of the ways that Aristotle uses the idea of kairos is in reference to the specificity of each rhetorical situation. Aristotle believed that each rhetorical situation was different, and therefore different rhetorical devices needed to be applied at that point in time. One of the most well known parts of Aristotle's Rhetoric is when he discusses the roles of pathos, ethos, and logos. Aristotle ties kairos to these concepts, claiming that there are times in each rhetorical situation when one needs to be utilized over the others.

'''Kairos has classically been defined as a concept that focused on "'the uniquely timely, the spontaneous, the radically particular.'" Ancient Pythagoreans thought Kairos to be one of the most fundamental laws of the universe. Kairos was said to piece together the dualistic ways of the entire universe. Empedocles was the philosopher who connect kairos to the principle of opposites and harmony. It then became the principle of conflict and resolution and was thus inserted as a concept for rhetoric. '''

Modern rhetorical definition
In his article "Critical-Rhetorical Ethnography: Rethinking the Place and Process of Rhetoric,", Aaron Hess submits a definition of kairos for the present day that bridges the two classical applications. Hess addresses Poulakos’s view that, “In short, kairos dictates that what is said must be said at the right time.” He also suggests that in addition to timeliness kairos considers appropriateness. According to Hess, kairos can either be understood as, "the decorum or propriety of any given moment and speech act, implying a reliance on the given or known" or as, "the opportune, spontaneous, or timely." Although these two ideas of kairos might seem conflicting, Hess says that they offer a more extensive understanding of the term. Furthermore, they encourage creativity, which is necessary to adapt to unforeseen obstacles and opinions that can alter the opportune or appropriate moment, i.e. kairos. Being able to recognize the propriety of a situation while having the ability to adapt one’s rhetoric allows taking advantage of kairos to be successful. Hess’s updated definition of kairos concludes that along with taking advantage of the timeliness and appropriateness of a situation, the term also implies being knowledgeable of and involved in the environment where the situation is taking place in order to benefit fully from seizing the opportune moment.

Hess's somewhat conflicting perspective on kairos is exemplified by the disagreement between Lloyd F. Bitzer and Richard E. Vatz about the rhetorical situation. Bitzer argues that rhetorical situations exist independent of human perspective; a situation invites discourse. He discusses the feeling of a missed opportunity to speak (kairos) and the tendency to later create a speech in response to that unseized moment. However, Vatz counters Bitzer's view by claiming that a situation is made rhetorical by the perception of its interpreter and the way which they choose to respond to it, whether with discourse or not. It is the rhetor's responsibility to give an event meaning through linguistic depiction. Bitzer's and Vatz's perspectives add depth to Hess's ideas that kairos is concerned with both timeliness and appropriateness. On one hand, Bitzer's argument supports Hess's claim that kairos is spontaneous, and one must be able to recognize the situation as opportune in order to take advantage of it. On the other hand, Vatz's idea that the rhetor is responsible reinforces Hess's suggestion of the need to be knowledgeable and involved in the surrounding environment in order to fully profit from the situation.

'''Kairos' modern English definition is vague. There is no one word in today's English language that completely encompasses the definition of kairos, similar to that of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. In his article "The Ethics of Argument: Rereading Kairos and Making Sense in a Timely Fashion," Michael Harker says, "Like the 'points' on the rhetorical triangle, the meaning of kairos is not definitive but rather a starting point for grasping the whole of an argument." Kairos' inclusion in modern composition has not been implicitly made, but there are undertones. Various components of kairos are included in modern composition and have made profound effects on modern composition theory. '''

'''Kairos' purpose in modern rhetoric is mostly focused on the placement of logos, pathos, and ethos. Kairos is used as a "starting point" in modern rhetoric. Kelly Pender's article "'Kairos' and the Subject of Expressive Discourse" states the inclusion of kairos within discourse "would try to shift the focus of personal writing from the writer's experiences and emotions to a broader perspective that explicitly concentrates on the rhetorical situation..." Kairos is an expressive inclusion within the overall subject of discourse, and one that has an effect on the entire rhetoric.'''

Kairos in digital media
The historical context of the definition of kairos may make the concept appear outdated. However, the relevancy of kairos is at its peak as the world has rapidly transformed into a society dependent on digital technology. In order to recognize how kairos can be applied to online media and the challenges that occur as a result, a broad definition of the term is required. One definition published in "Kairos and New Media: Toward a Theory and Practice of Visual Activism" makes the application of kairos to digital media easy to recognize, as it states kairos can be referred to as "a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved." This definition prompts a main issue within the application of kairos to online content: if timing is crucial to the message of communication that is being received, how can we communicate effectively online, where anything can be published at any time?

The difficulty with modern rhetoric in the digital space is that the audience is less easily influenced by the rhetor. As such, it is difficult for rhetors to utilize kairos to the best of their abilities. Due to the nature of which modern audiences in the electronic age consume media, it is highly possible that they are multi-tasking, with their attention divided among multiple sources. This difficulty is compounded with the fact that this audience can consume discourse at different times, in different places, and through varying mediums. As such, the audience is able to assign encountered discourse various levels of personal priority. With this, they are able to discern which discourse they think is vital or interesting, and discard those they deem trivial or unworthy of their attention.

There are also multiple external factors that lead to the difficulty in using kairos in a modern setting. Since computer hardware, software, and even the underlying operating system all differ between people, it is difficult for the orator to take account for every permutation possible. Couple this with the lack of a true shared community online, since such virtual “cloakroom communities” are only temporary, and the difficulties in using Kairos in the digital age becomes painfully clear.

James E. Porter attempts to address these issues in his publication of "Recovering Delivery for Digital Rhetoric." Porter's argument is that the aspects of body/ identity, distribution/ circulation, access/ accessibility, interaction, and economics are handled differently in an online setting and therefore messages that are sent digitally need to be altered to fit the new circumstances. In order to reach online audiences effectively, Porter suggests that context of the information's use, that includes "legal and political considerations as well as health-related and disciplinary ones," and smart rhetorical thinking, can solve the issue of miscommunicated messages distributed on online forums. The idea of the importance of context is essential in understanding how kairos online differs from classical kairos as a result of the lack of awareness of the time that a message is being published by users. The lack of mindfulness of timing by Internet users is of specific interest to Alexandria Peary in her article "The Role of Mindfulness in Kairos." Peary explains that users generating content online are unaware of the significance of the context surrounding the message as the time of its composition, which alters how the message is perceived. In her study, Peary concludes that due to "common cognitive errors including automatic behavior and preconception," users lean "toward failure to notice the present" when distributing a message. As a solution, Peary proposes that being mindful of time during the composition of a message will result in establishing exigence with the audience, contextualizing the online content, and accessing intrapersonal rhetoric. Kairos in the digital world presents obstacles of how timing interferes with the reception of a message, and scholars are continuously working to determine effective ways to overcome these online boundaries.