The German "aufheben"

The German "aufheben"

The German " aufheben " (" to sublate " in English) has a twofold meaning in the language: it equally means " to keep ", "to preserve", and "to cause to cease, " " to put an end to".

Even "to preserve" already includes a negative note, namely that something, in order to be retained, is removed from its immediacy and hence from an existence which is open to external influences that which is sublated is thus something at the same time preserved, something that has lost its immediacy but has not come to nothing for that.

Something is sublated only in so far as it has entered into unity with its opposite; in this closer determination as something reflected, it may fittingly be called a moment.