黑格爾以「主體性原則」來詮釋現代性的意義，強調近代啟蒙是建立於主體的「自覺」。「主體自覺」的辯證模式是因循一種「自我關係」結構，容易導致「我」與「非我」、「我」與「自然」的對立與異化。面對主體自覺所產生的異化現象，黑格爾認為是絕對精神辯證發展的短暫而必要環節，「絕對精神」最終將會揚棄異化現象。哈伯瑪斯一方面肯定黑格爾以「主體性原則」詮釋現代性的進路，但他也為黑格爾未能積極的開創「互為主體性」的理論感到遺憾。他認為解決現代社會異化的危機，必須仰賴「互為主體性」溝通的模式，重建人與人之間的「共識」。

Through “the Principle of subjectivity” Hegel interprets the meaning of Modernity, emphasizing that the current enlightenment is built on the subject’s self-consciousness which is grounded in the structure of self-relationship, and in the relationship, the subject makes itself an object causing an opposition and estrangement between subject/non-subject and subject/nature. Regarding the estrangement caused by the subject’s self-consciousness in modern society, Hegel thinks it is just a transitional and necessary moment; the absolute spirit will eventually break through the derived phenomenon of estrangement. Habermas agrees with Hegel’s approach to the interpretation of Modernity as the Principle of subjectivity, but he claims that Hegel failed to develop a higher level, the Inter-subjectivity. Habermas believes that to solve the crisis of modern society, we must rely on “the Principle of Inter-subjectivity”, a mode of communication, so that the legitimacy of modernity can be reconstructed.