The general process of development implied by the analogy that Tộ used was not seen by him as inexorable or universal. Progress could be slowed by an inability or unwillingness of humans to understand or accept change. Tộ argued that such failures were the cause of Vietnam's backward position with respect to the European powers. He argued that Vietnam had failed to progress due to what he regarded as the pernicious and regressive influence of Confucianism on the minds of the Vietnamese elite. He wrote in "":