Christian Ferencz-Flatz, “The Phenomenologist as a Method Actor”, in: Thiemo Breyer, Marco Cavallaro, Rodrigo Y. Sandoval (eds.), Phenomenology of Phantasy and Emotion, Wbg Academic, 2022
Abstract: The present article departs from several recent papers, which engage the question of fictional emotions from a phenomenological perspective. They are all shown to have certain difficulties in clearly establishing whether or not there is an essential difference between real and fictional emotions; whether or not fictional emotions can be voluntarily reproduced; or whether or not they need to draw from our prior actual experience. Without settling any of these questions in its turn, the article shows that there are key methodological constraints which necessarily lead phenomenology to an ambiguous treatment of these issues. These have to do with the methodological paradox of using imaginative procedures for exploring the relationship between fantasy emotions and actual emotional experiences.