Benjamin’s Rhetoric: Kairos, Time, and History

Susan Wells Temple University

Abstract

ABSTRACT The welcome expansion of kairos beyond its traditional locus in public debate to a broad range of discourse forms and persuasive actions has not been matched by a reevaluation of the temporal logic of kairos, which is still seen as located in teleologic time. This article suggests that Walter Benjamin’s understanding of time could refigure kairos as a nonteleological relationship among past, present, and future. Benjamin provides a theoretical rationale for kairotic action that is distributed in time and space and accounts for kairos of objects, places, technologies, and works of art. These temporal affordances, usually developed separately in contemporary theory, are deeply connected in Benjamin’s writing; his understanding of time therefore integrates currently unconnected lines of research and supports a fluid but coherent understanding of kairotic agency.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2022-10-01
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.55.3.0252
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Philosophy & Rhetoric
  2. Philosophy & Rhetoric

Cites in this index (5)

  1. Philosophy & Rhetoric
  2. Philosophy & Rhetoric
  3. Philosophy & Rhetoric
  4. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  5. Rhetoric Review
Also cites 7 works outside this index ↓
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    Quarterly Journal of Speech  
  2. “Kairios and Kairos: Walls and Ways in Homer.”
    Helios  
  3. Toward the Critique of Violence: A Critical Edition
  4. “The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Dark Tourist Argumentation, and Civil Right…
    Atlantic Journal of Communication  
  5. “Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern.”
    Critical Inquiry  
  6. “Toward a Critical Hauntology: Bare Afterlife and the Ghost of Ba Chúc.”
    Comparative Studies in Society and History  
  7. Topologies as Techniques for a Post-critical Rhetoric
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