Abstract: Self-negation is an important concept of Mou Zongsan,which has two specific directions,one is “the social ideal of the self-negation”,and the other is “the personality ideal of the self-negation”.Although these two points cannot be separated from the relationship between morality and cognition,they involve different issues and can be handled separately.“The social ideal of the self-negation” contains three elements:“stepping aside”,“descending and gathering” and “absorbing wisdom and returning to humanity”.“Stepping aside” means to get out of the way in order to develop the aspects you are not good at.This work must be carried out under the premise of “absorbing wisdom and returning to humanity”,rather than disliking “moral powerlessness”,and advocating “moral uselessness”.The development direction after “stepping aside” is “downward”,which is called “descending and gathering”.This principle can be effectively explained by the “multiple trichotomy”.The “multiple trichotomy” is a beneficial attempt,with great theoretical potential and represents a very promising direction.It should not be easily dismissed as “the theory of trifling”.

Key words: Mou Zongsan, self-negation, multiple trichotomy