Now the writings are guided by the question how can we disregard what people think about us? However, this question is conditioned by the answer to another question: What does the opinion of people about us consist of? Let’s try to respond this question by means of the examination of an example. I am walking along the pavement and see a neighbor, whom barely recognize his face. I am walking fast, so I see it just for an instant. His facial expression makes me think that he is judging me for any reason. That thought is the result of an act of interpretation. I suppose what he thinks about me on base of what I actually see of him, namely, his face. So, where is the content of the thoughts that I suppose by the act of interpretation? Since in that experience the only thing I could actually see was the face of my neighbor, the content of those thoughts has not an immediate connection with my sensitive impressions of my neighbor. For example, if I see the face of my neighbor and then I close my eyes and try to remember his face, the content of that thought would be immediately connected with the original sensitive impression because now I am trying to reproduce that sensitive experience. But in this case, I have not had a sensitive impression of the thoughts of my neighbor nor I am trying to remember some kind of sensitive experience. Rather, the content of the thoughts seems to be an original creation of my mind. Nevertheless, the content of my thoughts has an authentic connection with the sensitive impression of the face of my neighbor, because that sensitive impression has caused the thoughts. This connection, however, is not an immediate connection because my thoughts are not linked with my sensitive impression of my neighbor’s face by affinity ─as in the case of the last example─ but they are linked by a causal connection.

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