Engagement and suffering

Prvi deo rada posvećen je jezičkoj i logičkoj analizi termina, odnosno pojma angažmana i u njemu se zaključuje da, nasuprot svom uobičajenom značenju, on podrazumeva neku vrstu trpnosti, on štaviše ima karakter trpljenja. Drugi deo rada se oslanja na taj zaključak i bavi se mogućnošću da nešto tako ne samo pasivno nego i privatno, budući da bi se smisleno moglo govoriti o angažovanju kao mentalnom stanju, bude predmet ili čak nalog društvenih nauka. Zaključni deo rada sugeriše uputnost semantičkog podvajanja „biti angažovan/a/o“ i „angažovati se“ i ukazuje na opštije nevolje koje proizlaze iz različitih razumevanja tog „sebstva“. Na kraju se izlaže mogućnost nijansiranijeg razumevanja angažovanja ukoliko se osmotri iz aspekta, njemu na prvi pogled suprotstavljenog pojma, pojma trpljenja.The first part of the paper is devoted to the linguistic and logical analysis of the term, that is, the notion of engagement. It is argued that, contrary to its accustomed mean-ing, engagement implies a kind of sufferance; moreover, that it has the character of suffering. The second part of the paper draws on this conclusion and deals with the possibility that something not only passive but private can be the subject – or even the task – of the social sciences, since it might make sense to speak of engagement as a mental state. The concluding part of the paper suggests that it is instructive to make a semantic distinction between “being engaged” and “engaging yourself”, and points to the more general troubles arising from the different understandings of that “self”. Finally, the possibility of a more nuanced understanding of engagement is ex-posed, if it is viewed from the aspect of the notion that was seemingly opposed to it, the notion of suffering