Originally published on eve.gd on 7 January 2012, last updated 6 September 2026.
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"His work is the extrapolation of a negative καιρος" (Adorno, Theodor W. Aesthetic Theory. Edited by Gretel Adorno and Rolf Tiedemann. Translated by Robert Hullot-Kentor. London: Continuum, 2004. p. 33.) -- in reference to Beckett
With thanks to Yorgos Maragos.
καιρος = time/period
Example from Aeschines:
πόθεν οὖν ἐπὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν ἦλθε τῶν πραγμάτων, οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ δεύτερος καιρός,
"Now how it was that he came to reverse his policies （for this is the second period)" (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0002:speech=3:section=79)
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0002:speech=3:section=79
Further instances in Adorno:
"Accordingly, contrary to current aesthetic views, whe whole in truth exists only for the sake of its parts -- that is, its καιρος the instant -- and not the reverse; what works in opposition to mimesis ultimately seeks to serve it." (Adorno, Theodor W. Aesthetic Theory. Edited by Gretel Adorno and Rolf Tiedemann. Translated by Robert Hullot-Kentor. London: Continuum, 2004. p. 246.)
"This consciousness is no vague timeliness, no καιρος that would justify the course of a world history, that is not the development of truth." (Adorno, Theodor W. Aesthetic Theory. Edited by Gretel Adorno and Rolf Tiedemann. Translated by Robert Hullot-Kentor. London: Continuum, 2004. p. 251.)
Featured image by Пероша under a CC-BY-NC license.
This reference list has been generated, in many cases, through an automated process and may therefore contain errors or incomplete metadata. It is provided purely as assistance for finding the items mentioned within this post.
1. ‘Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon, section 79’, Perseus Digital Library <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0002:speech=3:section=79>
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0002:speech=3:section=79