Marramao’s Kairós: The Space of “Our” Time in the Time of Cosmic Disorientation

Abstract

Giacomo Marramao, Kairos: Towards an Ontology of ‘‘Due Time.’’ Trans. Philip Larrey and Silvia Cattaneo. The Davies Group Publishers, Aurora, CO, 2007, 90 pp + xii Time represents, ‘‘from time immemorial, one of the main themes of Western metaphysics and philosophical speculation’’ (p. 39)—thus claims Italian philosopher Giacomo Marramao in a book that, because of the interdisciplinary approach it takes, the variety of interlocutors it addresses, the ground it covers, and the meditations it develops, should actually be of great interest to a larger public than a uniquely philosophical readership. In this sense, not only philosophers but also anthropologists, social scientist, cultural critics, literary theorists, scholars of rhetoric, theologians, and even physicists and evolutionary biologists among others are sure to find reasons for excitement in the translation of this work. More fundamentally, though, the intrigue of time, its nature and meaning are questions that, at least once in their life (normally at times of birth or death) puzzle the mind of all human beings. In this sense, Marramao’s book can be of interest to everyone. Yet, despite the universal encounter with time, there seems to be a fundamental discrepancy, or at least an ambiguity, between the daily experience of time and its representations. ‘‘What is ... time? If nobody asks me, I know; if I must explain it to those who question me, I do not know.’’ Thus writes Augustine in the Confessions (Bk. IX, chapter 14), identifying with incredible clarity the paradox of time to which Marramao’s short but important book is devoted. What constitutes the ‘‘temporal paradox’’ (p. 39) that Augustine first articulates so poignantly? According to Marramao’s formulation, the paradox is given by ‘‘the intertwinement of natural and enigmatic, obvious and inexplicable’’ so that, in the end, time can be properly described as ‘‘a familiar stranger’’ (p. 39). It is such a familiar stranger that Kairos