 But it was Chŏng Yagyong 丁若鏞 (1762–1836, pen name: Tasan 茶山) who offered the most extensive criticisms of the tradition and constructed a new system, sometimes even borrowing from the Jesuit writings to create a new form of Neo-Confucianism. Above all, he clearly de-constructed Neo-Confucian Principle-Vital Force paradigm and shifted it into a new paradigm by (partially) integrating Western theories (without denouncing the core elements of Confucianism). He rejects the Principle-Vital Force structure because there is no room for emotion in Principle and Vital Force and they do not incorporate the volitional activities of the agent (Baker 2010). As you recall, the Classical Neo-Confucianism holds that the heart/mind has transcendent nature as its Essence (ch’e). In term of its endowment, i.e., Essence, the heart/mind is basically its Heaven-imparted nature. But in terms of its function, the human heart/mind consists in its variegated feelings. Tasan does not deny that the heart/mind has nature but he does deny that Principle (i) is the essence of the heart/mind in the way the traditional Neo-Confucianism suggests, i.e., in its transcendental character. What is most striking in Tasan’s philosophy of the human person is the view that the human nature is the integral aspect of the heart/mind that exclusively lies in its inclination (嗜好 kiho), i.e., liking what is good and disliking what is evil. This inclination is thoroughly spontaneous and automatic without any addition or admixture from without, and is thus innate. Human nature is merely a moment or a character of the heart/mind. While readily acknowledging that the heart/mind and its inborn inclination “form a unified human character”, Tasan makes clear that the nature here, instead of expressing any transcendental value, must refer to the spontaneous liking inherent in the heart/mind. So we cannot be praised or for that matter blamed just for having it. Our nature is innately inclined to the moral good just as the bees are innately inclined to protect their queen. In this sense, this nature is fixed. The full characteristics and merits of the heart/mind then cannot be exhausted by its nature (Ivanhoe 2016).