Individual Autonomy and Responsibility in Late Imperial China By ...

the importance of will (zhi 志) has been proclaimed without hesitation since the beginning of Neo-Confucianism.⁶⁴ Zhang Zai argues that “if one has determination in self-cultivation, it does not matter whether his energy is good or bad” (有志於學者，都更不論氣美惡).⁶⁵ But why do some have such a will and others do not? In the Analects, there is a famous passage attributed to Confucius that may provide an answer: “[o]nly the wisest men, and the most stupid cannot be changed” (唯上知與下愚不移).⁶⁶ Was this an exception to the general ability to change one’s actual nature? Even these extreme cases were explained differently by Neo-Confucians. Cheng Yi, for instance, notes that both the utterly stupid and the utterly wise share the same human nature and so they have the ability to change [their respective condition]” (性只一般豈不可移).⁶⁷ What Confucius means here is that there is a principle that cannot be changed. People who cannot change are those who violate their own natures and those who discard themselves. “They do not want to cultivate themselves. If they [really] want to recover their good nature, they must reject this lack of confidence and indolence, and change themselves accordingly” (自暴自棄不肯去學，故移不得，使肯學時亦有可移之理).⁶⁸ Similar thoughts are expounded by Zhu Xi when he touches upon the ability (huida 會達) of those who are silly,⁶⁹ and by Wang Yangming who, in confirming the role of will, writes that people do not change because they “do not want to” (bu ken yi 不肯移).⁷⁰

Like ken 肯 (lit. being willing, or ready to), the term chizhi 持志 (meaning to hold one’s determination) denotes a kind of antidote against one’s personal disorder (chi qi zhi bian qi buneng luan 持其志便氣不能亂,“those who hold their determination keep their essence in order”);⁷¹ these terms all hold the idea of will, volition, responsible decision toward moral improvement.⁷² As pointed out earlier, nobody is predestined to fail because the Confucian idea of destiny grants a high degree of autonomy and freedom to the subject. We cannot wholly ignore the past and its influences, but we can work upon ourselves in the present and, by doing so, modify the future. Except in a few extreme cases, willpower and personal determination are thought to be enough to overcome all