Mandatory Blog 2

Chapter 2 of “Ancient Rhetorics” has to do with the dilemma that comes to a rhetor when he/she realizes that no two rhetorical situations are ever the same, because every rhetorical situation, “Presents its own unique set of challenges.” Because of this, every rhetorical situation occurs in a time and place that is singular and cannot be repeated. Rhetors must wait for the perfect time, in which the audience is fully attentive, to deliver a rhetorical argument. The right rhetorical moment was known to the ancient Greeks as “kairos”.
According to the text, the Greeks had two conceptions of time. The first was what we are used, linear and measurable time. The Greeks called this chronos. Kairos on the other hand, is a situational kind of time, or an “opportunity”. Kairos has little to do with duration of time; moreover it refers to the right circumstances that bring on a certain situation that allows for an argument to be made to the right audience. The text reads, “Kairos draws attention to the mutability of rhetoric, to the ever-changing arguments that can be found in connection with a particular issue.” Meaning, this term, the situational notion of time, shows that rhetoric itself is a living and changing organism; no rhetorical argument every stays completely the same, but it changes within the situations that it presents itself in. This happens because the people who are paying attention to the issue being argued will often change their minds, beliefs, ages, locations, communities, identities, jobs, and other things.
Because of its mutability, kairos-based arguments cannot be set in stone prior to the delivery of the rhetoric because the rhetor has to constantly sharpen his/her speaking in order to attune to the various audiences and places he /she might be speaking too. The rhetor must understand the history of the issue, and also why the argument was poorly received in various settings and audiences. He/she must be able to identify with the opposing argument and be able to combat it even without a set of rules to guide him/her.
Kairos can clearly serve as a means of invention, because it is the, “Art of discovering all of the arguments made available by a given rhetorical situation.” You must always understand the interests of an audience, and also why these interests might interfere with your rhetorical presentation. You will need to challenge their interests, and subsequently, their beliefs, in order to rhetorically persuade them of your argument.
A chreia is a brief saying or action that immediately makes a point. It was one of two progymnasta used by the ancients, the other being tale. These were used to offer short and catchy lessons that were easily-identifiable by the reader. They allow a rhetor to amplify a theme, that is, make it more pronounced and easy to understand.
Proverbs are common sayings that any member of a certain culture knows. These terms include things like, “Be careful what you wish for.” These terms are “persuasive or expository”, meaning they are either to persuade the audience to do something, or dissuade them from doing something. They are very useful in engaging the reader and grabbing attention.