In this paper addiction is regarded as a possible pathway to achieve an understanding of modernity. What they both share are ambivalence and ambiguity as basic characteristics. These aspects are also expressed in psychological terms like perception and feelings, which are pursued historically by referring to Leibniz and Kant, by whom they became closely related to change and unpredictability. Thus, feelings understood in terms of inhibition stand out as a core aspect of modernity. Feelings, however, stand in opposition to language. On this basis music may replace texts as an expression for the modern, ambiguous self.