200 SOCIAL REFORMYu explained that his conviction that opening up the opportunity for upward
mobility on the basis of virtue or talent would not have serious destabilizing
effects on society derived from two ideas. The first was his belief in the valid-
ity of the Neo-Confucian interpretation of the flaws in human nature. Even though
man by nature was good (a Confucian dogma supported by many Neo-Confu-
cians like Chu Hsi), the human mind at birth contained within it two elements,
principle and psychophysical energy (igi). Principle was pure and good and rep-
resented natural human instincts for moral behavior as defined in Neo-Confu-
cian terms while psychophysical energy had the effect of clouding or obscuring
the principle in the mind. Even in the absence of artificial barriers against per-
sonal advancement, few men would rise from the ranks of the common man to
the class of scholars and officials (even under Yu's system) because "man [at
birth] is endowed with clearness or muddiness in terms of the type of psy-
chophysical energy [ki] that he has."lo2 He presumed that only by great effort
could man return to his inborn goodness either by study or introspection (or both),
and it was not to be expected that a large percentage of mankind would succeed
in this effort, an argument that resonates with Thomas Metzger's portrayal of
the Neo-Confucian search for fulfillment as an arduous and anxious quest for
sagehood or absolute purity and oneness.^103
The Stahilizing Effects of Family Environment. Yu's second point was a rather
sophisticated argument about the effects of environment on human beings, a point
of view that is redolent more of modern psychology or sociology than Confu-
cian thought:
"In terms of what a person's residence and upbringing add to his nature, there
is a vast difference between a hereditary (yangban) family and a commoner fam-
ily."10^4 The consequences offamily background (i.e., environment) were not uni-
form; they could improve an individual's life chances or on the contrary
contribute to laziness or lack of effort on the part of the well-to-do.
[The elite 1 by relying on the vestiges of their family's [good fortune 1 are without
fear of falling to a lower station in life. Therefore, they rest secure in their ordi-
nary habits and do not cultivate themselves. There are few of them that rise in
terms of reputation or virtue, and this is because the system makes it so.
If only the good men were selected rfor school or office 1 and the untalented
were, as a matter of course, left behind. and if there were held out before a per-
son opportunities for glory and prominence, while behind him there was the
chance of falling into the mud and dirt, then of those people whose characters
were firmly rooted in brightness and intelligence and who were practiced in the
teachings of their fathers and brothers, who among them would not be
diligent?!05In other words, inherited status and wealth contributed to upper class com-
placency, which could be remedied by introducing the classical ideal of recruit-
ment by merit with appropriate incentives, but the result would not be leveling