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a) The Concept of Dialectical Negation

p A specific feature of dialectical negation is that it is connected with development. This does not, of course, mean that negations inherent in regressive changes or circular movements do not follow the laws of dialectics. The latter are universal, jhev manifest themselves in any process of change. an4 are intrinsir fro anv motion. The name “dialectical negation”, in the course oT’which a passage from the lower to the higher occurs, is conventional. Jit stems from the specific features of dialectics as a science. As distinct from metaphysics, which rejects development, dialectics is 274 the theory of development. Teachings on the laws and forms of development constitute the main content of dialectics, for which reason the negation inherent in development was called dialectical, in contrast to all the other negations accepted by metaphysicists in some form or other.

p Dialectical negation is objective. It is the negation ot one qualitative state and the formation ot a new one. It stems horn the development ot the internal contradictions ot a phenomenon and results from the “struggle” between internal opposite forces and tendencies; it is a connecting link between the lower and the higher. It performs this function because it is not simply the destruction of a certain qualitative entity, but also the creation of something new. It is a negation in the course of which only that which has outlived itself, which contradicts the new conditions of existence, is destroyed. That which is positive in it is retained and develops further within a new phenomenon that is taking shape in the process of negation.

p Lenin stressed this specific feature of dialectical negation when he wrote: “Not empty negation, not futile negation, not sceptical negation, vacillation and doubt is characteristic and essential in dialectics,-which undoubtedly contains the element of negation and indeed as its most important element-no, but negation as a moment of connection, as a moment of development, retaining the positive...."  [274•1 

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p In the process of negation-the disappearance of some living organisms, for instance, and their replacement by other, more developed ones- eyerything jpositive that has been accumulated cturing the preceding historical development is retained and developed further. Thus, the first living creatures’ ability to renew chemical components within themselves and to organise and coordinate to a certain extent all chemical reactions ’did not disappear even when the creatures themselves did. This ability was enhanced in the new organisms that replaced them. The cellular composition of a living organism is a similar case. Having first been developed by the simplest unicellular organisms, it dit not disappear following transition to more complex organisms, but has been retained and became a necessary element of their structure. Moreover, the productive forces created by preceding generations are not destroyed during the negation or overthrow of one socio-economic system and the emergence, on its basis, of another one. On the contrary, being the basis for the emergence of a new, more advanced economic system, they receive wider scope for further development within the bounds of the new socio-economic system.

To sum up, a specific feature ot dialectical negation is that it is a universal form of connection between the lower and the higher.

b) The Correlation of Concepts “Dialectical Negation”,
“Leap” and “Resolution of Contradictions”

p A student of the basic laws of dialectics usually encounters some difficulty in comprehending the 276 difference between a leap, dialectical negation, and the process of resolving contradictions. This is not surprising, for these three concepts deal with one and the same process-the transformation of one object into another. But they reflect its different aspects. The concept “resolution of contradictions" signifies that the transformation of one thing into another occurs as a result of the “struggle” of opposites, their transition into one another and the elimination of the given contradictory unity. The concept “leap” expresses the law according to which this process takes place through the transition of quantitative into qualitative changes, through the transformation of the given qualitative state and the break-off of its further being. The concept “dialectical negation" reflects the fact that the transformation of one thing into another occurs both through the destruction of that within it that does not correspond to the changed state and conditions of its being and through the retention and further development in a new phenomenon (emerging as a result of the negation of the old one) of all that is positive and corresponds to the new conditions and trends of development.

In contrast to the concept “resolution of contradictions”, which marks the elimination of a certain contradictory unity, pointing to the finite nature of being, the concept “dialectical negation" marks the elimination of a certain object or qualitative state, pointing to the infinite nature of being. Moreover, as distinct from the concept “leap”, which marks the moment of discrete 277 existence of a certain object or qualitative state, the concept “dialectical negation" marks the moment of the continuous nature of being, the moment of connection between the negated and the negator, and continuity of development.

c) The Essence of the Law
of the Negation of Negation

p In the course of dialectical negation of some phenomena or qualitative states by others, a moment comes when the newly-emerging phenomena or qualitative states repeat a certain stage that has already been passed. This repetition is partial, rather than full, and formal, rather than essential. What happens is not an actual turn-back, but, as Lenin put it, a would-be turn-back. The,

p emerging phenomenon or qualitative state repeats the stage that has already been passed, but on a. new, higher basis.

p The establishment of socialist public ownership in the course of a proletarian revolution, for example, is the repetition of what already existed under the primitive communal system, in which public ownership also prevailed. But, though a repetition of what had existed at the initial stages of society’s development, socialist ownership has certain specific features. Primitive communal ownership was the consequence of a low level of development of society’s productive forces, which excluded the possibility of procuring on one’s own the material wealth necessary for survival, whereas socialist ownership is the outcome of an extremely high level of development of the 278 produclive forces. It is established when the productive forces outgrow the confines of private ownership and in order to develop further require the latter to give way to public ownership.

p Or take another example: the worker under simple commodity production performed all labour operations related to the making of a certain commodity. Following the appearance of capitalist manufactories, he turned into the partial, as Marx put it, or detail, according to Lenin, worker and began to perform only some of the operations, or even just one of them. Today, automation of production compels the worker once again to start performing a multitude of various operations. The repetition of what has already been and has come back is evident here, but in this case, too, it has occurred on a new, higher plane. In the past, the simple commodity production worker performed all labour operations himself, with his own hands. Now all these operations are performed by machines. His role is to operate them.

p Here is another example from the history of knowledge. It is an established fact that, in the Middle Ages, alchemists advanced the idea that chemical elements could be transformed into others. Later (in the 17th to 19th centuries), when the atomistic theory substantiating the immutability of atoms reigned supreme, the first idea was replaced by another one, according to which chemical elements could not be transformed into others. Today scientists have come to the conclusion that, given the right conditions, some chemical elements can be transformed into others. A 279 turnback to the past is evident here, too, but it has occured on a new basis. Alchemists drew their conclusions from sheer fantasy, while modern scientists proceed from the knowledge of the objective laws of natural and artificial radioactivity of certain substances.

p The repetition of the past in the course of negation of some objects or qualitative states by others is not an accidental phenomenon, but a universal law of development. It is a necessary consequence of the fact that the process of development entails the transition of certain particular phenomena (aspects, properties) into their opposites. Having done so, a phenomenon (aspect, property) again turns into its opposite in the course of its development, thus returning, as it were, to its initial state, repeating what has already been passed, but it does so on a necessarily new and higher basis. This is because a phenomenon (aspect, property) that has returned to its initial stage retains in a sublated form the positive content that has emerged during its subsequent development.

p Thus, in the course of negation of some objects or qualitative states by others, the repetition of what has already been passed occurs on a new, higher basis.

p This inevitably raises the question: “How many negations are needed for a developing phenomenon to repeat the path already covered?”

p In simple cases a turn-back, a repetition of the initial qualitative state occurs after two negations. In the development of a seed, for example, the initial state is repeated after two negations: the 280 seed is negated by the plant and the plant by the seed.

p A turn-back or repetition of what has already been passed after two negations is not the only form through which the law of the negation of negation manifests itself. The repetition of the stages passed may occur after a greater number ot negations, e.g. 4, 8, and so on. This is hpransp the_ transformation f g dpvplnpjna phenomenon (aspect, property) into its opposite does not orcur in every negation. Frequently, in the course of negation a thing does not turn into its opposite-it passes into some other qualitative state which differs from the initial one, but is not its opposite. Transformation into its opposite is only tha ultimate result^ The transformation of private property, for instance, into socialist public ownership occurs, as the history of human society proves, through three negations: 1) slave ownership is negated by feudal property, 2) feudal property is negated by bourgeois ownership, and 3) bourgeois (and all private property in general) is negated by socialist public ownership, which is the opposite of private property.

p Thus, the number of negations for repeating the passed on a new basis in the development of a certain held oi reality may vary greatly. It depends on the nature of a developing phenomenon and _on the concrete conditions of the development pro  cess.

p A specific feature of the law ot the negation ot negation is thus the repetition of the passed on a new basis, a return, as it were, to the old.

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p It was this regularity that Lenin noted when he denned the essence of this law. The negation of negation, he wrote, is “a development that repeats, as it were, stages that have already been passed, but repeats them in a different way, on a higher basis..."  [281•1 .

But if a return to the past, the repetition of the passed stages on a new basis is a universal law of development, the latter cannot proceed straightforwardly-it takes on a spiral form.

We have discussed the basic laws governing the interconnection of matter and consciousness, and also the universal properties and relations of reality and the universal laws of dialectics. The latter, howeveF, do not exist independently of particular laws which operate in the specific fields of reality, but rather alongside and through them. These particular laws which are specific for a certain field of reality, affect the universal laws and underlie their specific manifestations in every field of reality. The specific manifestations of the laws governing the interconnection between matter and consciousness and of the universal laws of dialectics in society’s life are studied by historical materialism which constitutes a major part of the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. The second half of this book deals with the topical questions of historical materialism.

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