Cognizione, emozione e valore: il ruolo del fruitore nell’estetica fenomenologica di Roman Ingarden

This research investigates the aesthetic experience of literary engagement from the perspective of Roman Ingarden (1893–1970). It focuses on the cognitive and emotional involvement elicited by reading and imagining fictional narratives, offering a phenomenological account of the act of literary reception. Methodologically, the study is grounded in Ingarden’s aesthetics, which allows for an integrated understanding of cognition and emotion in the apprehension of the aesthetic object. The analysis is structured in five chapters: the first two situate Ingarden within his historical-philosophical context and aesthetic debates; the third explores the interplay of cognition and emotion during literary engagement; the final two address the aesthetic value of literary works and extend Ingarden’s approach through the concept of aesthetic empathy. The thesis demonstrates how Ingardenian phenomenology accounts for the reader’s active participation and the perception of an artwork’s metaphysical qualities, providing a non-dualistic framework for understanding the relationship between emotion and cognition in aesthetic experience.