余英時先生《論天人之際——中國古代思想的起源試探》是採用比較文化史的方法探討中華文化、中國思想起源的一部力作。此著除了受雅斯貝爾斯、帕森斯和韋伯的影響以外，就方法、視角和具體內容看，亦頗受胡適之〈說儒〉的啟發。從某種程度上言，它是接著〈說儒〉講的接續之作。當然，要理解二者之間的關聯或者說學術接力，需要重新認識〈說儒〉在學術史和思想史上的地位，特別是同情的理解胡適在民族危機下的現實關懷和文化訴求。

Yu Ying-shih’s Between the Heaven and the Human—An Exploration into Origin of the Chinese Mind in Classical Antiquity is an important book to explore the origin of Chinese culture and Chinese thought. In addition to the influence of Karl Jaspers, Talcott Parsons and Max Weber, the book, mainly the methods and contents, is influenced by Hu Shih’s Shuo Ru (說儒), and is in a sense a continuation of the Shuo Ru. Of course, to understand the correlation or the inheritance between them, it is necessary to re-understand the status of Shuo Ru in the academic history and the ideological history, especially to understand Hu Shih’s realistic solicitudes and cultural appeals under the circumstances of the national crisis.