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Kairos
Kairos (Ancient Greek: καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning 'the right or critical moment'. In modern Greek, kairos also means 'weather' or 'time'.
It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other being chronos (χρόνος). Whereas the latter refers to chronological or sequential time, kairos signifies a good or proper time for action. In this sense, while chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature.
The plural, kairoi (καιροί) means 'the times'. Kairos is a term, idea, and practice that has been applied in several fields including classical rhetoric, modern rhetoric, digital media, Christian theology, and science.
In his 1951 etymological studies of the word, Onians traces the primary root back to ancient Greek associations with both archery and weaving. In archery, kairos denotes the moment in which an arrow may be shot 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. Similarly, in his Kaironomia (1983), E.C. White defines kairos as the "long, tunnel-like aperture through which the archer's arrow has to pass", and as the moment "when the weaver must draw the yarn through a gap that momentarily opens in the warp of the cloth being woven". Both are examples of the precise timing of a decision/action to achieve the best outcome.
In the literature of the classical ancient world, writers and orators used kairos to specify moments of opportune action, often through metaphors involving archery and one's ability to aim and shoot at the exact right time on-target. The ancient Greeks formulated kairos in general as a tool to explain and understand the interposition of humans for their actions and the due consequences.
Kairos is also an alternate spelling of the name of the minor Greek deity Caerus, the god of luck and opportunity.
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, then, means that one must find the best situation, taking timing into consideration, to act.
Kairos was central to the Sophists, who stressed the rhetor's ability to adapt to and take advantage of changing and 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."
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Kairos
Kairos (Ancient Greek: καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning 'the right or critical moment'. In modern Greek, kairos also means 'weather' or 'time'.
It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other being chronos (χρόνος). Whereas the latter refers to chronological or sequential time, kairos signifies a good or proper time for action. In this sense, while chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature.
The plural, kairoi (καιροί) means 'the times'. Kairos is a term, idea, and practice that has been applied in several fields including classical rhetoric, modern rhetoric, digital media, Christian theology, and science.
In his 1951 etymological studies of the word, Onians traces the primary root back to ancient Greek associations with both archery and weaving. In archery, kairos denotes the moment in which an arrow may be shot 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. Similarly, in his Kaironomia (1983), E.C. White defines kairos as the "long, tunnel-like aperture through which the archer's arrow has to pass", and as the moment "when the weaver must draw the yarn through a gap that momentarily opens in the warp of the cloth being woven". Both are examples of the precise timing of a decision/action to achieve the best outcome.
In the literature of the classical ancient world, writers and orators used kairos to specify moments of opportune action, often through metaphors involving archery and one's ability to aim and shoot at the exact right time on-target. The ancient Greeks formulated kairos in general as a tool to explain and understand the interposition of humans for their actions and the due consequences.
Kairos is also an alternate spelling of the name of the minor Greek deity Caerus, the god of luck and opportunity.
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, then, means that one must find the best situation, taking timing into consideration, to act.
Kairos was central to the Sophists, who stressed the rhetor's ability to adapt to and take advantage of changing and 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."
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