With the establishment of the Chosŏn dynasty, which adopted Neo-Confucianism as its official political and moral philosophy, debates on the relative importance of the classics and literature, the classics licentiate (saengwŏn) examination and the literary licentiate (chinsa) examination, were launched by meritorious officials at court and scholars in retirement. “In engaging men of ability for government service, one should not emphasize only literature or the classics. The civil service examination system recruits all learned men regardless of their predilections,” said Chŏng Tojŏn (d. 1398). The debate went on, however, especially regarding the relative merits of classical scholarship and literary composition. At times, the classics licentiate examination was considered more important than the literary licentiate examination. Thus the latter examination was abolished in 1396, restored in 1438, again abolished in 1444, and restored in 1453 to remain until 1894.

The argument of those favoring elucidation of the classics against those favoring literary composition was that students of literature read only selections of poetry and prose in anthologies and neglected the classics. Literaturists retorted that a one-sided emphasis on the classics would produce few writers who could serve as diplomats, write and harmonize with Chinese hosts in China, or entertain Chinese envoys to Korea. Furthermore, they asserted, the candidates in the classics examination faced examiners who might be swayed by their own personal feelings in assessing a candidate's performance. It was also said that such examinations required too much time and thus disrupted agricultural production.