Aufheben

Aufheben is a German word with several seemingly contradictory meanings, including "to lift up," "to abolish," or "to sublate."[1]

In philosophy, Aufheben is a German term used by Hegel to explain what happens when a thesis and antithesis interact, particularly via the term "sublate."[2]

Hegel's philosophy of history stress the importance of negative (the antithesis) in history — negative includes wars, etc., but not only. His conception of historical progress follows a dialectic spiral, in which the thesis is opposed by the antithesis, itself sublated by the synthesis. The synthesis both abolish and preserves the thesis and the antithesis, an apparent contradiction which explains the difficulties to interpret this concept (and to translate Aufheben).

British Libertarian Marxist journal Aufheben takes its name from this concept.

External links

• Libertarian Communist Library Aufheben journal archive