The Concept of Engagement

Abstract

In this paper, we illuminate the basic features of the concept of engagement, which has only become possible in the secular world, with the emergence of the modern individual deprived of any stable, eternal order or hierarchy of values. Still, engagement is not only individual but also collective, as the lack of certainty about the truth affects not only the community and society but also motivates them to follow the same paradigm as the individual – themselves at stake, without knowing where it could possibly lead, but with the intention to produce some tangible and stable socio-cosmic structures that could alleviate man’s uncertainty and thus insecurity. The necessity of engagement stems from the circumstance that man lives in a context saturated with meanings that call him out in advance and influence him. Therefore, engagement means actually acting back to the being-exposed to meanings and structures that have already affected man and his situation. One section of the text deals with an understanding of engagement in the contemporary, “postmodern” era.

U ovom radu osvjetljavamo osnovne crte koncepta angažovanja, koji je postao moguć tek u sekularnom svijetu, s pojavom moderne indvidue lišene bilo kakvog stabilnog, vječnog poretka i hijerarhije vrijednosti. Ipak, angažovanje je pritom nije samo individualno nego i kolektivno, budući da izostanak izvjesnosti o istini ne pogađa samo zajednicu i društvo nego i njih motiviše da slijede istu paradigmu kao pojedinac – da sebe stave na kocku, ne znajući kuda će to voditi, ali s namjerom da na koncu proizvede opipljive i stabilne socio-kosmičke strukture, koja bi mogla ublažiti neizvjesnost, a time i nesigurnost. Nužnost angažovanja potiče od okolnosti da čovjek živi u kontekstu zasićenom značenjima koja ga već unaprijed prozivaju i utiču na njega. Stoga angažovanje znači uzvratno djelovanje izloženosti značenjima i strukturama koja su već uticala na čovjeka i njegovu situaciju. Jedan odjeljak teksta posvećen je razumijevanja angažovanja u savremenoj, „postmodernoj“ epohi.