Meaning: Negation is the aspect of things that promotes their destruction. It is the qualitative negation of existing things, which means the transformation of things into their opposites. It breaks the original affirmative state and promotes fundamental changes in things.

Form and characteristics: Negation can be either external negation or internal negation. External negation is the negation of things caused by external factors. For example, a seed is eaten by an animal, which is an external negation. Internal negation is the result of the internal contradictory movement of things and the inevitable trend of their own development. For example, when a seed germinates into a seedling under suitable conditions, it is the denial of its original form by the life force within the seed. Negation is not simply abandonment and elimination, but contains positive factors. In the process of negating the old things, some positive and reasonable factors in the old things will be retained and inherited, providing a basis for the development of new things.

Connotation: Negation of negation is a higher stage of development after experiencing the two stages of affirmation and negation. It is another denial of the negative stage, but it is not a simple return to the original positive state, but a return and development at a higher level. For example, the emergence of human society from public ownership in primitive society to private ownership is a negation; while the public ownership in socialist society negates private ownership in capitalist society, which is the negation of negation.

Characteristics: It has the unity of regression and rising. On the one hand, the negation stage of negation will repeat some of the characteristics and forms of the affirmation stage to a certain extent, but this is a repetition on a higher basis; on the other hand, it realizes the development and progress of things, bringing things to a certain level. A higher, more perfect state.

Self-negation: Dialectical negation is the negation of things themselves and is the result of the contradictory movement within things. This means that the development and changes of things are due to their internal contradictions rather than being imposed by external forces. For example, a person's growth and progress are achieved through constant self-reflection, self-denial, and overcoming one's own shortcomings and deficiencies.

Links of development: Negation is a key link in the development of things. Only through negation can old things transform into new things and achieve a qualitative leap. If there is no negation, things will stay in their original state and development will not be achieved. For example, the transition from feudal society to capitalist society was the negation of the feudal system. This negation promoted the tremendous development of social productivity.

The link of connection: Negation is also the link between old and new things. New things are born from old things, and new and old things are connected through the link of negation. While negating the old things, new things retain the positive elements of the old things, transform and absorb them, and make them an integral part of themselves. For example, the development of modern science and technology is achieved on the basis of inheriting and carrying forward ancient science and technology. Although modern science and technology are very different from ancient science and technology, there is an inherent connection between them.

The essence is "sublation": "Sublation" is the essence of dialectical negation, that is, new things both criticize and inherit old things, overcome their negative factors while retaining their positive factors. For example, in the inheritance and development of culture, we must abandon the feudal dross in traditional culture, such as feudal ethics, etc., and at the same time inherit and carry forward the excellent elements of traditional culture, such as Confucian thought of benevolence, Taoist dialectical thinking, etc.

The first negation: Things develop from the affirmative stage to the negative stage, and the contradictions are initially resolved, but the newly generated things in the negative stage are still one-sided. For example, in the development process of human understanding, from ancient simple materialism to modern mechanical materialism, it is a negation. Mechanical materialism overcomes some of the intuitiveness and conjecture of naive materialism, but it also has one-sidedness such as mechanics and metaphysics.

The second negation (negation of negation): negating the negation stage again, overcoming the one-sidedness of the previous stage, allowing things to be synthesized and perfected at a higher level. For example, dialectical materialism's negation of mechanical materialism not only overcomes the one-sidedness of mechanical materialism, but also absorbs its reasonable elements, bringing human understanding to a new height.

Tortuousness: The path of development of things is tortuous, and you will encounter various difficulties, setbacks and repetitions. This is because the contradictory movements within things are complex, and the external environment will also have an impact on the development of things. For example, the path of the Chinese revolution was full of twists and turns, and it experienced many failures and setbacks. However, the Chinese Communists always strengthened their beliefs, constantly summed up experience and lessons, and finally won the victory of the revolution.

Progressiveness: Although the development path of things is tortuous, the general trend is forward and upward. New things will inevitably defeat old things. This is an unstoppable trend in the development of things. For example, the development of science and technology continues to promote the progress of human society. Although some problems and challenges may arise during the development of science and technology, progress in science and technology is irreversible.