本文主旨，在於探討中國政治思想史研究的方法，分析研究方法所依據的理論基礎，並以具體實例闡釋研究方法的實際運用。全文論述分為七節，第一節「前言」，說明全文旨趣之所在；第二節通論中國政治思想之特點；第三節分析「外在研究法」（External Approach）及其理論基礎；第四節進一步以漢代與唐代政治思想為例，說明「外在研究法」之具體應用；第五節分析「內在研究法」（Internal Approach）及其方法論預設，並探討這種研究法之優點及其限制；第六節則以先秦儒家政治思想中的「王霸之別」與「義利之辨」等主題及其發展作為具體實例，闡釋「內在研究法」之應用及其問題；第七節則綜合全文各節之論點，提出結論性之看法。

　　　　　This essay represents an attempt at some methodological reflections on the study of the history of Chinese political thought. It is divided into seven sections. Following the introductory section, the distinctiveness of Chinese political thought (Section 2), and the "external approach" (Section 3 and 4) as well as the "internal approach" (Section 5 and 6) are discussed with concrete examples. Special attention is devoted to both the strengths and limitations of these two approaches to the study of Chinese political thought. The concluding Section 7 suggests that both approaches can equally be employed to conduct research on various aspects of Chinese political thought.