Thaumàzein | Rivista di Filosofia

Introduzione

Alessandro Stavru, E. Giada Capasso — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It is a well-known fact that the concept of kairos encompasses a wide variety of meanings, ranging from “due time”, “critical situation”, “appropriate or decisive moment”, to “correct behaviour” and “skilful action”. All of these meanings point not only to the temporal, spatial and circumstantial characteristics of kairos, but also, and more importantly, to the action that is required in order to seize a favourable opportunity in a given moment. Without such action, and the ability to perform it, the kairos does not yield any advantage, thus remaining unexploited. On the other hand, without kairos no action can be successful, as even the most refined ability is by itself no guarantee for a successful outcome. In the Graeco-Roman world, kairos is therefore always linked with specific skills: in arts such as poetry, rhetoric, medicine, divination, alchemy and in a variety of techniques such as those needed in farming, warfare and sports, the successful outcome depends on the ability to grasp the kairos that is within reach at a given moment.

This volume examines the different meanings of kairos as reflected in the methodologies commonly applied in the arts and techniques, showing how these help to broaden and deepen our knowledge of kairos. The chapters investigate both aspects of kairos: that relating to its objective conditions, i.e. its manifestation on certain occasions and circumstances; and that relating to its subjective conditions, i.e. the skills needed to grasp the opportune moment in which it should be utilized.

Il cibo per la cura dell’anima, la musica e le virtù per la salute del corpo

Mino Ianne — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Pythagoreans went beyond the traditional use of diet to cure disease, convinced, as they were, that its real importance lies in healing the soul. The Pythagorean δίαιτα essentially takes on a further meaning with respect to the properly medical notion, that is, a meaning of existential and formative nature. If it is true, in fact, that food, in its variations, is decisive for the states of health and physical illness, it is also true that it has a reflex effect on psychic states and character; the ψυχή is strongly conditioned in the determination of lifestyles, as, on the other hand, it also appeared clear to the Hippocratic doctors.

In this sense, it can perhaps be hypothesized that καιρός is the conceptual hub that allowed the transition from the iron rules of the akusmata of early Pythagoreanism to the more flexible consideration of what is appropriate in different circumstances, as we find in the doctrine related by Iamblichus, dating back to Aristoxenus, and, therefore, in the Pythagoreanism of the fourth century. The first testimony in which medicine is related to music and music therapy, specifically defined as “catharsis”, that is to say a tool for healing both physical and mental illnesses, also dates back precisely to this period.

Hence the importance attached by Pythagorean thought to epimeleia, care as total harmony of body and spirit. In this sense, the Pythagorean doctrine appears to be the direct antecedent of Plato’s thought on the care of the “whole”.

A Study on kairos

Ana Rita Figueira — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Even though many specialized studies have contributed to the conceptual framework of kairos, there has been very little research dealing with this notion in ancient arts. Observing this gap, principally in what concerns Greek pottery, the author explores Exekias’s pictorial rendition of Achilles slaying Penthesileia in a black figure amphora dating from VI BC, in order to draw attention to the hermeneutical possibilities arising from a comparatist approach interested in the interaction between words and images. Specifically, the author proposes that vase figurations contribute to rethink kairos, principally in what concerns the chain of meaning generated by the association of pictorial materials and ancient philosophy, including key-terms from early Hippocratic medicine, such as that of krisis.

Il perturbante e la crisi

Federica Piangerelli — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper aims to reflect on the polyvocal notions of “appearance” and “kairos”, framing them in an unprecedent field of investigation: the relations between foreigners. In fact, the analysis focuses on some central passages of Aeschylus’ Suppliants, the paradigmatic “drama of hospitality”.

A first scenario reflects on the uncanny nature of the Danaids: they are barbarians, in appearance, behaviour and forma mentis, but also Greek, due to their genealogy common to the Argives. The analysis aims to prove that this double identity explains the “prism of the appearance”. Like a reflecting surface, the phenomenal sphere reveals and refracts: it is not illusory, because it shows a “visual truth”, but it is not exhaustive, because it transmits a partial image, which must be integrated with a “narrative truth”.

A second scenario, indeed, investigates the crisis experienced by Pelasgus, king of Argos, related to the necessity to decide about the fate of the Danaids: hospitality or rejection? But the king faces this situation with responsibility because he recognizes the sacrality of the moment he lives. The exam intends to show that Pelasgus’ anguish explains the “dynamic stability of the kairos”. This exceptional time, on the one hand, proves to be a “stable point”, because it blocks the consequentiality of events; on the other, it is a “dynamic moment”, because it is a crossroads of opposing possibilities. But only after a critical examination of all the hypotheses, Pelasgus chooses to act as he should: welcoming the Suppliants, honouring the divine law of hospitality.

«Dio onora talvolta l’opportunità dell’inganno» (Dissoi Logoi 3.12)

Francesca Eustacchi — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This essay explores the semantic richness and practical applications of two concepts: kairos and deceit, through a meticulous analysis of their various manifestations. Regarding the notion of deceit, we will delve into the concepts of falsehood, error and fascination. As for the concept of kairos, we will emphasize its connection to the ideas of opportunity and appropriateness in both practices and behaviours. This research primarily focuses on Sophistic and Platonic texts, which provide valuable material for reflection. These texts enable us to clarify the meaning and theoretical utility of each concept under examination and to explore their intriguing and interconnected relationship. The interplay between kairos and deceit manifests in diverse realms such as ethics, rhetoric and art, aiming to enhance the effectiveness of praxis at every level of consideration.

Il discorso e l’occasione

Silvia Gastaldi — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article analyses the role of the kairos in Greek rhetoric between the 5th and 4th centuries BC. The kairos is a complex and elusive notion. It is first and foremost the right time to deliver a speech, but the term also indicates the appropriateness of the arrangement of a speech and its brilliant style, which is achieved through the careful search for words, choosing them for their phonic and rhythmic pleasantness. The investigation starts with the Sophists and especially Gorgias and then analyses how the kairos is understood and used by 4th century rhetoricians such as Alcidamas, Isocrates, and Demosthenes. The survey ends with Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle, in the Rhetoric, does not explicitly formulate a theory of kairos but underlines the importance of both the choice of the appropriate time to deliver a speech and the use of proper language. Finally, the paper analyses the concept of rhetoric as psychagogy in Plato's Phaedrus: in his theory of philosophical rhetoric, the kairos indicates the right time and also the best ways with which discourse addresses different types of souls to direct them to virtue.

Diaskopèin e mythologhèin

Linda Napolitano — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Recent reflection on uncertainty overlooks and even misunderstands Plato’s thought. Faced with a complex world, he definitely admits the presence of kairòs, whose literary and iconographic images are already established. He forces the arts (tèchnai) to grasp it by calculating not only external measures of objects, but also those «pertaining to the essence of generation» (Pol. 283d). Seizing this ‘right moment’ is even more complicated in the interpersonal relationships and goes back to the care (epimèleia) of oneself and of others. According to the intense words of Socrates before his death in the Phaedo (61d, 114d), reasoning together (diaskopèin) is not enough: also an ability is always requested from us to tell our own story (mythologhèin) and to welcome those of others as well. Only this way we can run the risk, time by time, of believing the truth, feeling the good, judging and acting the right.

La didattica del gnothi kairon secondo alcuni maestri di platonismo imperiale e tardo-antico

Anna Motta — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of this paper is to address the question of kairos from both a biographical and a didactic perspective, by focusing on some texts of the Platonist tradition in which the term kairos does not appear, yet traces of both its situational and formal meanings can be found. More specifically, I would like to show that when the Platonists present Plato as the culmination of the history of philosophy, they are inclined to identify the formative (or even situational) kairos for Plato in his encounter with Socrates. This encounter appears essential to enable the metaphysical flight of Plato’s thought, and represents the moment when philosophy becomes a medicine for the soul.

The Alchemical kairos

Joshua Werrett — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

For Zosimos the alchemist (c.4^th C. AD), it seems that the whole of alchemy depended upon the kairos – the opportune moment, determined via katarchic astrology, when an experiment would succeed. In fact, Zosimos refers to alchemical transformations as kairikai katabaphai – colour changes achieved at the kairos – and states that they are «subject to lunar influence and the passing of time» (The Visions 10.12). This paper explores Zosimos’ understanding of kairos and its importance in his alchemical practice. Firstly, a general overview is presented of Zosimos’ use of the term and the nuances which can be gleaned from his own work and the work of those in his intellectual milieu; the second half of this paper focuses more specifically on the term kairikai katabaphai to examine what role exactly kairos may have had in Zosimos’ wider religio-philosophical beliefs and his understanding of the mechanics behind alchemical change. Ultimately, this paper concludes that alchemists seem to have regarded the kairos as having many fascinating aspects: it is a divinely-inspired, precisely calculable, repeating, transformative moment, without which alchemical success is almost impossible. Zosimos’ practice involves a complicated amalgamation of prayer, sacrifice, calculation, and technique; as this paper hopes to demonstrate, a true appreciation of the kairos is at the heart of all of this.

Una riflessione sul Mitsein: da Heidegger a Jean-Luc Nancy

Carmine Marcacci — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article focuses on the fundamental background of the Mitsein ontology. The first part of the essay is specifically devoted to those paragraphs of Sein und Zeit that had been most fundamental to the development of Heidegger’s explanation of Mitsein. It highlights the premises and the consequences of Heidegger’s setting of the problem. Nancy wonders why Heidegger did not elaborate on the description of Mitsein, even if he always underlined the co-originariness of Dasein and Mitsein. Hence, the first operation made by Nancy was to rethink the Mitsein as the heart of Being and its modalization. For this reason, the second part of the article focuses on Nancy’s reading of Heideggerian Mitsein and Mitdasein, in L’être-avec de l’être-là and L’«éthique originaire» de Heidegger. In these works, Nancy further highlights the relationship between ethics and ontology, which Heidegger’s Über den «Humanismus» had already addressed. Nancy, as Heidegger’s interpreter, points out the equivalence between original ethics and fundamental ontology. The different outcome of Heidegger’s and Nancy’s ontology, indeed, depends on the way they use the Mitsein category and on a different role that ethics plays in the thinking of these authors. In conclusion, Nancy’s reading of Heideggerian Mitsein shows, on the one hand, Nancy’s reservations towards Heidegger’s analysis and, on the other, explains the fruitfulness of Heidegger’s reflection on the theme.

Il rincrescimento dell'agente di Bernard Williams: un confronto con la colpa, il rimorso e altre forme di rincrescimento

Simone Gasparoni — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This essay explores Bernard Williams’ notion of agent-regret, comparing it with guilt, remorse, and other forms of regret. I first highlight some features of the intentional structure of guilt (also in relation to shame) and remorse, and then proceed to the analysis of regret. I discuss several examples of regret, including Williams’ discussion of the truck driver who accidentally runs over a child. In agreement with Williams, I argue that agent-regret has a moral significance not captured by either guilt or remorse. If we generally feel guilty or remorseful for intentional actions or omissions, regret shows that we are emotionally attached even to the involuntary aspects of what we do. Agent-regret suggests that our concept of responsibility is broader than we think, and its phenomenology (as well as its potential action tendencies) may be indicative of an agent’s morality.