Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

225763

Introduction

Kairopolitics

Jason M. Adams

pp. 1-19

Abstract

The Introduction asserts that realtime is the temporality of today's digital capitalism and that as such, the status of the ancient Greek concept of kairos, which has served as a central basis for revolutionary thought from Walter Benjamin through Antonio Negri, is increasingly thrown into question. It explains the etymology of Cairo in Arabic and kairos in Greek, suggesting how between the two, one might arrive at a specifically post-Arab Spring and post-Occupy concept of "kairopolitics". The argument does not call for a simple reversal or return to a transcendental kronos over an immanent kairos (valorizing chronology over moments of opportunity), but rather of infusing kairos with a more radical approach to both memory and imagination, past and future, than that cultivated by today's digital capitalism.

Publication details

Published in:

Adams Jason M. (2014) Occupy time: technoculture, immediacy, and resistance after occupy Wall Street. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Pages: 1-19

DOI: 10.1057/9781137275592_1

Full citation:

Adams Jason M. (2014) Introduction: Kairopolitics, In: Occupy time, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1–19.