From Actualisation to Temporal Order: Counterfactual Retention and the Field of Presentability

This paper proposes a model in which actualisation does more than replace possibility with actuality. When one possibility becomes actual while another remains unrealised, the unrealised alternative can continue to contribute information through its recognised relation to what occurred. I call this counterfactual retention.To explain this structure, I introduce the Field of Presentability: the structured range of actuality, possibility, relation, and recognised difference available to awareness at a given stage. If a situation A presents alternatives B and C, and B is actualised, the subsequent field does not contain B alone. It can contain B, the fact that B was actualised, the recognition that C was possible, the consequences of B, and a transformed understanding of C relative to the realised transition A→B.The central claim is that this transition produces an informational asymmetry between successive fields of Presentability. The later field can contain the earlier field as retained and transformed information, while the earlier field cannot contain the later actualisation as already accomplished. I argue that this asymmetry provides a possible basis for temporal ordering within awareness.