Kairos

Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment (the supreme moment).

Description

The ancient Greeks had two words for time, kairos and chronos.

• Kairos signifies a time lapse, a moment of indeterminate time in which everything happens.

• Chronos refers to chronological or sequential time.

While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature.

Aristotle

Kairos is 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
• To Prepon, which is the style with which the orator clothes the proof

Other uses

Kairos also means season in ancient Greek, and weather in modern Greek.

The plural, καιροί (kairoi (Ancient Gk. and Mod. Gk.)) means the times (compare Zeitgeist).

See also

• Ancient Greece
• Philosophy
• Time