Affirmation and Negation

Within anything the two aspects or the two factors of affirmation and negation are contained. The affirmative aspect is the aspect of a thing that sustains its existence, i.e., the aspect that affirms the thing as itself and not as something else; contrary to affirmation, negation is the aspect of a thing that brings about its destruction, i.e., the aspect that destroys the existing thing and transforms it into another. Negation refers both to the nodal point of transformation in the development of things, through which a thing transforms into another, and to the stage, in which the old is replaced by the new in the development of things.

The relation of affirmation and negation is a relation of unity of opposites. First of all, affirmation and negation are mutually exclusive. In the process of their mutual exclusion, when the affirmative aspect is predominant, the thing maintains its original nature and own existence; once the negative aspect gains dominance in the process of development, the thing will transform into its opposite and achieve the negation of the thing itself, i.e., the self-negation of the thing. This is also the qualitative change, the transformation and resolution of contradictions in the process of development of things. Next, affirmation and negation are interpenetrating. Affirmation contains negation, and negation contains affirmation. In the world, there is neither pure affirmation without any negation nor pure negation without any affirmation. Affirmation always permeates and contains negation, in the sense that affirmation is negation; negation always permeates and contains affirmation, in the sense that negation is affirmation. In terms of the process of development, if affirmation does not contain the factor of negation, things will stagnate; if negation does not contain affirmation, things will lose their basis and possibility of development.