ABSTRACT

When classical psychology described one's own body, it already attributed “characteristics” to it that are incompatible with the status of an object. It first claimed that my body is distinguished from the table or the lamp because my body is constantly perceived, whereas I can turn away from these other objects. Thus, my body is an object that is always with me. But then, is it still an object? If an object is an invariable structure, this is not in spite of the change of perspectives, but rather in this change, or through it. The always new perspectives are not, for the object, a simple opportunity to manifest its permanence or a contingent manner of appearing to us. It is only an object in front of us because it is observable, which is to say, situated at our fingertips or at the end of our gaze, indivisibly overthrown and rediscovered by each of their movements. Otherwise, the object would be true in the manner of an idea and not present in the manner of a thing. In particular, the object is only an object if it can be moved away and ultimately disappear from my visual field. Its presence is such that it requires a possible absence.