“But the living body is constituted in a two-fold manner as a sensed (bodily perceived) living body and as an outwardly physical body of the outer world. And in this doubled givenness it is experienced as the same. Therefore, it has a location in outer space and fills up a portion of this space. (p.43)”
Bodily perception is analogous to outer perception. Both are pure acts of consciousness. And both give us the body as physical, thus part of the world.
But these acts differ in their correlates. Outer perception gives the outer world as its correlate. In other words, it is an act that perceives the physical aspects of the objects of the world. Thus, with outer perception, we can see our body as just one object among many. Bodily perception, on the other hand, gives us the body as a living body. With it, we can see that our body is not merely a thing that occupies space, but it is living, that is, it has sensation (which is the “bridge” between the “I” and the body). Bodily perception, thus, perceives this unity of the “I” and the body, making us see the body as a living body.
*All of the above is based on Edith Stein’s On the Problem of Empathy.
Empathy 