LAUSR

The paper characterizes moral and psychological nature of mercy. The concept of mercy is analyzed in religious, ethical and philosophical, pedagogical, psychological views. Based on the theory of V. Romenets, canonical structure of an act is considered as cyclical succession of situational, motivational, active, and after-act components. The principal components of phenomenology of the act of mercy have been studied, namely: life situation, moral and sensuous experience caused by it, moral understanding of the situation and behavioural motives, choice and decision-making, volitional stimulus, act, after-act understanding. It is assumed that at the stage of after-act, every act of mercy causes ambivalent feelings in a person, which become the psychological basis for future acts.