Notes for January 19

Kairos

A. Kairos is a Greek concept that has to do with timing in relation to a rhetorical situation.

1. The Greeks had two concepts of time: chronos to refer to linear, measurable time, which we track with watches and calendars.

2. Kairos suggests a more situational kind of time, something close to what we call “opportunity” (Crowley and Hawhee 45).

3. Kairos, in contrast to the common places, is about process v. product; “kairos draws attention to the mutability of a subject” (47).

4. Additionally, we know two more things: (1) kairos is about the needs of those involved in the lived moment, and (2) kairotic moments change over time.

5. Kairos thus accounts for the contingencies of situations, one’s ability to respond to an audience’s particular needs in the moment, and then define that situation for the audience.


B. Rogerian argument builds on the notion of kairos, using the work of psychotherapist, Carl Rogers.

1. Carl Rogers perspective on psychotherapy imagines that one can build understanding by attempting to empathize with another, listening so well that what comes from the interaction may produce some sort of healing through the sharing of dialogue.

a. Mutual communication tends to be pointed toward solving a problem rather than toward attacking a person or group.

b. Argument is thus more of a collaborative enterprise and supposedly resists our tendencies toward polarization.

c. In public conflicts, Rogers would attempt to reduce tension and defensiveness by focusing on the environment, trying to produce a climate that would be favorable to problem solving (Teich 2).

2. Rogers’ views have been translated into argumentative strategies: a conflict solving technique based on finding common ground instead of polarizing debate.

3. Young, Becker, and Pike in their book Rhetoric and Discovery connect Rogers’ perspectives on psychotherapy with persuasive writing, and they suggest four strategies:

a. An introduction to the problem and a demonstration that the opponent's position is understood.

b. A statement of the contexts in which the opponent's position may be valid.

c. A statement of the writer's position, including the contexts in which it is valid.

d. A statement of how the opponent's position would benefit if he were to adopt elements of the writer's position. If the writer can show that the positions complement each other, that each supplies what the other lacks, so much the better.

4. Working with kairos and the principles of Rogerian argument write a letter to a friend or member of your family to take an issue seriously.


D. Public contexts: kairos “points to the situatedness of arguments in time and place and the way an argument’s suitability depends on the particulars of a given rhetorical situation” (Crowley and Hawhee 48).

1. To consider the kairos of an issue:
a. Get to know the history of an issue in order to understand what elements are on the surface and why.

b. Explore all kinds of perspectives on an issue in order to understand points of agreement and disagreement.

2. For Crowley and Hawhee, if the kairotic elements are not obvious we can ask questions like:

a. How urgent or immediate is the issue? Questions on page 52

b. What are the interests of those involved—values and assumptions--with an issue and why? What stake do you and they have in relation to the issue?

c. What are the power dynamics at work in issue?

1. Which arguments receive more attention?
2. Who is making these arguments?
3. What arguments receive less attention?
4. Who is making these arguments?