Sublation
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Sublation refers to Hegel's use of this term. Originally it comes from the German word Aufhebung, literally "out/up"-"lifting." In can be translated in many ways, however, such as: to negate, to sublate, to abolish, to cancel, to destroy, to preserve, to save.
As can be seen Aufhebung has contradictory meanings, as in both "to destroy" and "to save." The contradiction suits perfectly what Hegel is trying to talk about. In his estimation, sublation is necessary in order to found an absolute starting point for his philosophy, that is a starting point that does not rely upon some other ground.
[edit] The Contradictions of Reflective Thought
The problem is that in reflective philosophy one can always find another thing upon which some "absolute" ground relies, eg, with Fichte's ultimate ground, the "I," or "ego," one can immediately see that this relies upon the "non-"I." The "non-I" allows Fichte to distinguish what he means by the "I." Reflection is circular, as Fichte unapologetically acknowledged.
For Hegel reflective thought, because of its circularity, is to be avoided since it leads to going around the same problems again and again for each generation of philosophers, a philosophia perennis. Instead Hegel calls upon speculative thought: the two contradictory elements are held together, uplifted, sublated, without them completely destroying each other. Speculative thought seeks to avoid the idealism inherent in reflective thought and allows him to think in concrete terms about how things work out in the real world and in history. Thus introducing an early form of pragmatism to philosophy.
For Hegel history proceeds, in every small way, through sublation. For example, there is the current contradiction of pollution that threatens the climate, and the use of cars for everyday economy. Both will perhaps be sublated in some way through rational thinking about the problem: eg, green-cars, green trains, a bio-sphere, a carbon tax, or a pollution cleaner, etc.. Neither pollution nor cars are eliminated but are contained within a higher unity.
Another such example of Hegelian sublation would be the master-slave dialectic. [1]
[edit] Sources
- ^ "Hegel: The Difference Between the Fichtean and Schellingian Systems of Philosophy" (New York: Ridgeview Pub Co 1978).
