Aufheben

Aufheben is a German verb that literally means to lift up, to elevate, or to preserve, and in some uses to suspend or abolish. The noun Aufhebung is a technical term in philosophy describing a process by which something is simultaneously negated and preserved within a higher unity.

The most influential usage is in Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s philosophy. In his dialectical method, a moment (thesis) encounters its opposite (antithesis) and is overcome by a higher synthesis. In this process, the older form is negated but its essential elements are retained and reconfigured, so that the contradiction is resolved rather than simply erased. This is often described with the translation sublation, emphasizing both cancellation and elevation into a new, more comprehensive totality.

Etymology and sense: Aufheben comes from auf- meaning "up" and heben meaning "to lift." The key effect is to lift something to a higher level while preserving its components. In Hegel, sublation thus means both the abolition of a moment and its incorporation into a broader unity.

Usage beyond Hegel: In Kant and post-Hegelian thought, the term is used to describe the way knowledge or concepts are both transcended and conserved within a new framework. It also appears in historical materialist writings, where earlier social forms are abolished but preserved as moments within a higher structure.

Translations vary: sublation is the standard scholarly rendering, but “to abolish and preserve” or “to lift up” are used to capture the dual sense. The ambiguity is intentional and a key point of interpretive discussion.