proleptics

Noun

proleptics (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) The art and science of predicting in medicine.
   • At the best, the student of proleptics will anticipate paralysis, premature senility, and asthenic apoplexy towards middle life, when he finds the pulse feeble, and the spirits correspondingly low in youth, unless remedial measures be adopted in good time, and persevered in with due diligence.1843 January, J. A. Walker, “Observations on Education, considered with reference to Physiology”, in The Phrenological Journal, and Magazine of Moral Science, volume 16, page 349
   • Of course the science of proleptics recognises no mysterious or supernatural agency more than is recognised in astronomy, or any other natural science; it is founded altogether on the observation of phenomena, with a special reference to the order in which they arise.1848, Thomas Laycock, “The periods regulating the recurrence of vital phenomena”, in Western Lancet, page 335
2. (broadly, obsolete) The art of making of predictions.
   • The desire to know definitely and presciently is also one of the most urgent of the instincts proper of man; it leads him on to the most mystical speculations as to the future, and is the orectic basis of all the arts of divination, as well as of scientific Proleptics or anticipation of the order...1860, Thomas Laycock, Mind and brain
   • try to divine the inevitable fortunes of your friends, and of the leaders and rulers of nations; endeavour to previse and forewarn; and study proleptics.1873, Joseph Simms, An Original and Illustrated Physiological and Physiognomical Chart
3. The act of making prophecies.
   • To be sure the anticipatory proleptics of the "historical survey in future-form" associated with pseudonymity rests upon the literary fiction of the pre-historicality of the revelation of these secrets; but this fictionality is intended to emphasize precisely by means of its esoteric quality that...1979, Erhardt Güttgemanns, Candid Questions Concerning Gospel Form Criticism, page 132
   • Eschatology and proleptics aside, I think this is a really stupid way to read a mystery novel.2001, Mark Allan Powell, Chasing the Eastern Star, page 18
4. The elaboration and exploration of proleptic themes and ideas; the employment of prolepsis.
   • Getting action can make use of prolepsis; that is, getting action may proceed by inveigling others to take an anachronistic view of the future. Either way, proleptics is for them an art of paradox.2012, Harrison C. White, Identity and Control, page 282
   • This is literary identity-formation in Harold Bloom's sense of the proleptics that lead to oneself, whether those origins are one's own early poems or other young writers that represent a new beginning for poetry.2016, Laurie Langbauer, The Juvenile Tradition: Young Writers and Prolepsis, 1750-1835, page 77