班固《漢書》 問世後，歴來有許多學者對此書都有所評議。劉咸炘《漢書知意》即是在前人的研究基礎上，對 《漢書》做更深入的分析 。劉氏將此書命名為「知意」，乃欲發明班固撰述之用心，與前人評點文字，議論史事之研究方式不同。本文的寫作，乃先就劉氏寫作《漢書知意》 的動機做一說明，並歸納此書之體例。其次，劉氏對前人論班固人格瑕疵加以駁斥，已表明班固《漢書》之詳實可信。再者，本文歸納了劉氏論史之特點，即「紀傳乃記事而非記人」之意見。劉氏此說乃受章學誠之影響，重視由歷史觀察一代風氣的變化，本文特就此處加以申說。文末則嘗試對劉氏之 《漢書》 研究成果做一評斷。

After Ban Gu's Han Shu was presented to the public, many scholars in every dynasty had a lot of critiques about it. Liu Xianxin's Han Shu Zhi Yi provides an in-depth research in Han Shu on the foundation of former studies. The author named this book “Zhi Yi” in order to reveal what Ban Gu wanted to express in his writing. This approach of study is different from former scholars' criticism of words and discussion of historical events. In this essay, we first attempt to point out the author's motive of writing this book, and to conclude its style. Next, we cite Liu's refutation of the contention about Ban Gu's flaw in personality to testify the authenticity and credibility of the records in Han Shu. Moreover, this essay infers that the most important thought of Liu's historical theory is that “ji zhuan” does not mean “to describe someone” but “to narrate something”. This opinion, which we explicate specially in the paper, was under the influence of Zhang Xuecheng, who put emphasis on observing the change of the common practice of a dynasty through history. In the end, we try to judge Liu's achievements of the reserarch in Han Shu.