Agamben again

Agamben says:

Every written work can be regarded as the prologue (or rather, the broken cast) of a work never penned, and destined to remain so, because later works, which in turn will be the prologues or the moulds  for other absent works, represent only sketches or death masks. The absent work, although it is unplaceable in any precise chronology, thereby constitutes the written works as prolegomena or paralipomena of a non-existent text; or, in a more general sense, as parerga which find their true meaning only in the context of an illegible ergon."

from Infancy and History , Giorgio Agamben

Par´er`gy

n.

1.

Something unimportant, incidental, or superfluous.

Paralipomena are things omitted or neglected that are added as a supplement. Origin: paraleipómena (Greek: things omitted, not told (prp. passive of paraleípein), equiv. to para- + leíp(ein) to leave behind + -omena neut. pl. prp. mediopassive suffix.^[1]

pro·le·gom·e·non  (prl-gm-nn, -nn)

n. pl. pro·le·gom·e·na (-n)

1. A preliminary discussion, especially a formal essay introducing a work of considerable length or complexity.

2. prolegomena (used with a sing. or pl. verb) Prefatory remarks or observations.

Potential

One further dimension of Agamben’s engagement with Western metaphysics and attempt to develop an alternative ontology is worth mentioning here, since it is one of the most consistent threads throughout his work. This is the problem of potentiality, the rethinking of which Agamben takes to be central to the task of overcoming contemporary nihilism. Citing Aristotle’s proposal in Book Theta of his Metaphysics, that “a thing is said to be potential if, when the act of which it is said to be potential is realized, there will be nothing im-potential (“that is, there will be nothing able not to be,” (in HS, 45) Agamben argues that this ought not be taken to mean simply that “what is not impossible is possible” but rather, highlights the suspension or setting aside of im-potentiality in the passage to actuality. This suspension, though, does not amount to a destruction of im-potentiality, but rather to its fulfilment; that is, through the turning back of potentiality upon itself, which amounts to its “giving of itself to itself,” im-potentiality, or the potentiality to not be, is fully realized in its own suspension such that actuality appears as nothing other than the potentiality to not not-be. While this relation is central to the passage of voice to speech or signification and to attaining toward the experience of language as such, Agamben also claims that in this formulation Aristotle bequeaths to Western philosophy the paradigm of sovereignty, since it reveals the undetermined or sovereign founding of being. As Agamben concludes, ‘“an act is sovereign when it realizes itself by simply taking away its own potentiality not to be, letting itself be, giving itself to itself’” (HS 46). In this way then, the relation of potentiality to actuality described by Aristotle accords perfectly with the logic of the ban that Agamben argues is characteristic of sovereign power, thereby revealing the fundamental integration of metaphysics and politics.

Agamben, Giorgio. Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. tr. Daniel Heller-Roazen, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1998; Homo sacer: Il potere sovrano e la nuda vita, Giulio Einuadi, 1995. (HS)

Taken from: http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/agamben.htm Author Catherine Mills

Evidence of things not seen - Fishing

The future will not be seen nor make itself present, yet it has effects. 

Therefore its existence can be proved indirectly by observation of its effects. For example Black holes cannot be seen but can be observed and proved via their unique effects being observed on nearby stars. 

Alternatively the future can be observed indirectly by making a factor influence it and following the factor you introduced. For example like Jaws being harpooned with a yellow barrel.

Or Ahab seeking Moby Dick through the reports of other sailors and the flock of seagulls that accompany  him.