方東美的儒學研究是在中西文化交匯的背景下進行的。雖然他認同儒家的文化價值取向，以儒家為「純正中國人的代表」，但他並不認為儒家可代表中國文化之全部。他重視原始儒家哲學，對後起的漢儒、宋明儒學都有所貶抑。他強調要回到中國哲學原點，重新恢復原始儒家健康飽滿的生命境界。它在形式是是對傳統的復歸，而實際上是對中國哲學的重新建構。方東美儒學思想提示了一條獨具一格的儒學發展的思路。

　　　　　Thome Fang was a philosopher with worldly views and contemporary ideology. He analyzed several cultural traditions of the world in the way of comparative philosophy. After studying western philosophy profoundly, he turned to Chinese philosophy conscientiously. He interpreted Chinese philosophy in a way different from other philosophers. Although he affirmed the cultural values of Confucianism, he criticized the traditional Confucianism severely. He highly respected the original Confucianism, but he looked down upon Han-Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. He took that if we wanted to regain the vitality of Confucianism, me had to return to the vital realm of original Confucianism. Formally, it was a return to the tradition. Virtually, it was a reconstruction of Chinese philosophy. Briefly, Fang's Confucian thought took an original view and showed us a new path for the development of Confucianism.