Pure acts are acts of the subject targeting objects of the real world. These acts are, precisely, the mediation between the subject and the object world.
After a few days of reading On the Problem of Empathy, I finally came up with a matrix showing the targets of some pure acts, categorizing them into two (2): the “I” and the other.
What is shown below is that the acts (the ones in the rows) can or cannot access certain parts of the individual (the ones in the columns).
The Matrix
Outer perception can access the physical body of the self, and also the physical and living body of the other. Bodily perception can access both physical and living body of the self. Inner perception can only access one’s own psyche. Empathy, which is a sui generis form of perception, can access the psyche of the other.
An insight that I get from this is that the subject, which is a psycho-physical individual, has itself acts which may be of help in getting a clearer picture of itself and of the other individual.
Clarification of Terms
- The “I” is, of course, the self.
- The other is another self, another “I.”
- The psychic refers to the mind, the spirit, or the soul.
- The physical body refers to the human body, but treated as a thing comparable to a pen or a chair.
- The living body refers to the human body that has sensations.
Empathy 