The subject of this paper is the controversy between cognitivist philosophy and phenomenology concerning the nature of emotions. This article has a limited scope restricted to the domain of the aesthetic emotions usually dependent on the works of art and literature. The author raises the criticism against the cognitivist stance, this criticism based chiefly on the principles of Max Scheler's phenomenology of emotions.

Philosophy in this text is considered under the model of mise en abyme, which is used in particular in the art of fiction narration. A novel about the process of novel writing is an example of mise en abyme. A film about movie directing is also an example of mise en abyme. A painting showing the artist working on the work of art also has features of mise en abyme. Likewise, mise en abyme philosophy is philosophy that discusses how philosophy (...) is created. Philosophy in such a shape is no longer understood as an endless space “inhabited” by situations, concepts, assertions, philosophical theses which are, however, perceived as if from the inside of that space; by contrast, it starts to be perceived from the outside, from the perspective of activities that form its frame, that frame it. For example, two such framing activities are considered – refining situations which is responsible for the “splendor of truth” that shines forth in them and defying the passage of time when constructing situations which is decisive for their isolation from the stream of life. Philosophy that notices its own frame is anchored in the foundations of everyday life which is something irrefutable in relation to the very inside of philosophy; as a consequence, the idea of epistemological foundationalism may be renewed and recovered for philosophy. (shrink)