晚近以降，面對由「華夷」而「中西」，康有為提出「孔子改制」說以應對新局。但曹元弼認為康有為「孔子改制」之說是破壞傳統倫理的邪說，學術壞而人心壞、人心壞而世局壞。故曹氏從「新王」與「素王」的區別入手，提出孔子只是「素王」，而非「新王」，故亦未「改制」。孔子之道是繼承前聖之道，要言之即倫理綱常。為了是正康氏的「孔子改制」說，曹元弼又建構了一條以孔廣森、凌曙、陳立為主、以禮為中心的清代《春秋》學脈絡。進而指出，惟有以禮治《春秋》、正人倫，才能使中國走出中西困境。是以，曹元弼為晚近中國尋找的出路是堅守儒家傳統，「再造人倫」。

Since the late Qing Dnasty, as western culture spreads to the east, Kang Youwei put forward “Confucius reform” to deal with the new situation. However, Cao Yuanbi thought that kang’s view was a heresy which destroyed traditional ethics. Bad learning leads to bad hearts, bad hearts leads to bad world. Starting from the difference between the new king (新王) and the king without crown (素王), Cao proposed that Confucius was only the king without crown but not the new king, so he did not reform the system. The way of Confucius is the way of inheriting the former sage. In order to refute kang’ s Confucius reform theory, Cao Yuanbi also constructed a line of rites in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Qing Dynasty, which Kong Guangsen, Ling Shu and Chen Li are the center of the inheritance. Only the study of the Spring and Autumn Annals ritual thought and correcting human relations can China get out of the dilemma between China and the west. Therefore, Cao Yuanbi looked for a way out for the late China is to stick to the Confucian tradition and Reconstructing Human Relations.