Criticism and Sublation

Also known as “critique and sublation”. Criticism means to criticize means to analyze erroneous ideas, words and deeds and all old things and to reveal their essence and negate them. Sometimes, it also refers to expressing views on shortcomings and mistakes. Any social revolution in human history must criticize the old system and propagate the superiority of the new one, thus establish revolutionary and progressive thoughts and ideas and do away with the decaying and backward ideologies, and no historical leap can be achieved without such criticism.

Marxism is essentially critical and revolutionary. The criticism of erroneous ideas, words and deeds should take a clear-cut stand, have a clear approach and should not be ambiguous and specious. However, the method of criticism should be dialectical and analytical, present facts and reason things out, and convince people with reason, and metaphysical method must not be used for criticism.

Sublation (Aufhebung) contains the meanings of abandonment and retention, development and elevation, i.e., dialectical negation. The term “sublation” is first found in Kant’s system and it often used in Fichte’s works, but mostly in the negative sense of the word. Hegel, then, clearly used “sublation” as a concept with a two-fold meaning of negation and affirmation. He pointed out: “‘To sublate’ has a twofold meaning in the language: on the one hand it means to preserve, to maintain, and equally it also means to cause to cease, to put an end to.” These two senses are interconnected, i.e., “both overcome and preserved”. Hegel’s explanation of the transition from one concept to another by “sublation” has a dialectical element but it is idealistic. Dialectical materialism uses the term “sublation” to refer to the negation of the old things by the new. This negation is not a simple abandoning, but rather overcoming and abandoning of what is negative and obsolete in the old, and retaining and inheriting of what is positive for the new in its previous development, and its development to a new stage. The result of this negation is that there is an essential difference between the new and the old, but also that the old and the new are connected into an organic whole and develop forward.