Elkötelezettség: redivivus?
Engagement: Redivivus?

Summary/Abstract: In the article I first outline some of the meanings of engagement, and look at the reasons why the light of engagement faded. Jean-Paul Sartre and hi concept of engagement is particularly important in this section as I analyze the far-reaching meanings of the said concept and discuss what implicated issues are related to this. In the following, I confront with the idea that deteriorating of the paradigm of engagement is determined by the weakening of motivation-resources in contemporary liberal-democracy. This concept, in fact, combines the engagement with the support of certain ethical claims. I critically discuss the aforementioned idea, indicating that it is more appropriate to follow the idealistic, but not arbitrary, assumption that we are actually freer than we think or want. Based on this consideration, I try to rethink the fear of the highly criticized Prometheus-bias, which sets even the forces of emancipation in the service of existing hegemonic system. It is emphasized that we are gaining experience in history with the prometeeous, and transregressive activities. I assume that our anxiety stems from the fact that we indeed possess the mentioned (Prometheus) capacities that make it possible to change the world, but we renounce them due to the reasons of safety-comfort, inertia, and not least to the fear of fear. After that, I make an attempt to expound the outline of an engagement-related theory. This theory consists of four parts: 1. conscience; I believe that the concept of engagement is inaccessible without the meanings of conscience, that is, the meaning of commitment must be anchored to the notion of conscience, 2. courage, which means that we are able to see the dialectics of limitation and opportunity in the Prometheus-biased attitude, 3. I take into account the contemporary forms of rebellion and analyze them in relation to conscience and courage, 4. in this part, I discuss the eventual conservative forms of engagement and try to answer the question: is the conservative commitment concept is possible at all?

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