750 REFORM OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION
No Freedom ()f Discussion
Finally, Yu showed no sign of even nascent interest in free and open discussion,
In keeping with Yulgok's vicws, he condemned any discussion of "spirits, false
doctrines, or rebellious ideas, or private discussion of court affairs, political mat-
ters in the local districts, or exposure of the wrongdoing of others" in the lec-
tures held during the meetings. Since Yu provided that any violators would
immediately be charged by the secretary (Chigw61) with a misdemeanor, he had
no intention of promoting open discussion and criticism of local governance by
the members of the compact association.^23
Maybe it is a function of Western bias to highlight free speech since it is so
essential an element of democratic politics, but it does help one to assess the
limits ofYu's liberalism. The point has bcen made in these pages thatYu's oppo-
sition to inherited status did not signify his opposition to status and hierarchy
altogether. He wanted to transform the criteria of respect from inherited status
to virtue and moral action. Since the source of inherited status was not the Con-
fucian tradition, but the subversion of the Confucian ideal by aberrant Korean
social practices, those practices could be combatted not by an appeal to a new
set of ideals, but by confinnation of classical Confucian ideals. Freedom of speech
would only lead to an attack on Confucianism itself, a result more pernicious
than perpetuation of the current anomalies in Korean society.
Yu's CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY
COMPACTS LITERATURE
The idea and inspiration for the institution of community compacts was by no
means an innovation, for serious discussion about moral leadership in local self-
government organizations had begun in the early fifteenth century, and many of
the proposals already included elements of the Lii-Family Community Compact
and Chu Hsi's emendation of it from the Sung dynasty. Tabana Tameo has cor-
rectly pointed out that Yu provided no development of the theory or philosophy
of moral education, only another example of an armchair system designed for
practical application. While enlightened in spirit, he thought it contained none
of the zeal for enlightenment that marked Tasan's work.^24
Even though Yi T'aejin has attempted to connect the second wave of enthu-
siasm for community compacts in the late fifteenth century with a progressive
movement for the increase of production and commerce, the essence of com-
munity compacts was a strong emphasis on moral education to rectify social
difficulties or provide aid for economic distress in the countryside. The inspi-
ration for the communal model for mutual aid and surveillance derived primarily
from the classical description of Chou institutions of local self-government in
the Rifes of Chou.
The moral overtones of the community compact regulations were amplified
in the Sung dynasty becausc of the renewed emphasis on moral education through