Sublation (the word)
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I was told by the English Hegelians in the Hegel list HEGEL-L, that sublate is the English translation of the German word "aufheben". This is used quite often by Hegel (and I also think by Marx).

It has three meanings, which Hegel all means at the same time:

a) in it's basic meaning, it stands for a picture: to raise something, from a lower place to a higher place. Usually, you would think of taking something from the floor/ground into your hand.

Out of this picture, came two meanings:

b) You can see in that picture the meaning "raising something to a higher level", taking it a step further etc. While Hegel plays much with this meaning (in the sense that the Aufhebung / Sublation needs to take the original thesis to a higher level, think again for example of Newton Physics vs. Einstein Physics), it is not really that much explicit present in the common use of that phrase in German common language.

c) You take something from the ground to examine it or to store it away. So the phrase is also used in the sense of "storing", "saving", "preserving" (usualy for later use). This is a common use of the word in German. Hegel uses this interpretation in the sense of what I discussed in the article on Hegel's teaching in 2c: that the original thesis and antithesis are still present in some sense in the wider sublation (again one can think of Newton vs. Einstein).

d) the last popular use of "Aufhebung"/"aufheben" in the German common language is nearly the opposite of c): I'm not sure, but I think that the English language also uses the verb "to lift" (as present in the original picture presented in a)), in the sense of "to end", "to negate" say in the expression "to lift a ban" etc.

In German we also speak i.e. of the lift of a law, when a law of the state is expressed to be not more valid anymore.

Hegel thinks of this aspect of sublation/Aufhebung in what I tried to express in 2d of that Hegel posting. While c) lays the expression on the fact that the older thesis are not just denied, but that all what was reasonable in them is preserved in a better system (and that the better system is not better/subject to criticism in the grade it fails to implement all reasonable from the thesis), d) lays the emphasis more in the aspect in that the Sublation is also something new and also a kind of critique of the former thesis (otherwise, why would one need the sublation? The thesis would be enough). Especially, the idea here is that the implicit assumptions, borders of thesis (and probably antitheses) are "lifted"/"overcome" in a meaningful "sublation".

In order to express these three aspects all together, Hegelians prefer to speak from "Aufhebung" instead of expansion, inclusion, synthesis or similar, which all more focus on some aspects. However, it don't see a problem in using other words then sublation, as I hope I have proved by now. I was simply assuming that the notion was known, but as I am also not a native speaker of English, I was depending on other native speakers judgment.

Btw, in case you are interested in Hegel's terminology, I can recommend to the English reader:

"A Hegel Dictionary" by Michael Inwood, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford 1992, ISBN 0-631-17533-4 (Paper back), or 0-631-17533-6 (bound), 347 pages.


[ >Kais Hegel-Werkstatt< ]
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[ Grundkonzepte | >Logik< | zur Naturphilosophie | zur Philosophie des Geistes | Neue Felder ]
[ Abstrakt und Konkret | Das Abstrakte ist das Einfache | An Sich | >Sublation (the word)< | zum Aufheben | Begriff | Einzelnes | Möglichkeitsfelder bei Hegel | gute Gründe | Logik - Realphilosophie ]


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