Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol 46(3), Aug 2026, 180-196; doi:10.1037/teo0000334
This article addresses critical gaps in contemporary 4E (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive) approaches to emotion theory by developing a detailed analysis of the intentional structure of discrete emotional episodes. While 4E frameworks have provided valuable insights into the situated and embodied nature of affective experience, they have insufficiently theorized how specific emotions like fear, anger, and sadness manifest distinct intentional architectures that shape both self-experience and environmental engagement. The article introduces the concept of “action horizons” as a theoretical bridge between embodied approaches and fine-grained analysis of emotional intentionality. Through systematic phenomenological investigation supported by empirical research, it demonstrates how each emotion type structures a characteristic field of action possibilities—escape in fear, aggression in anger, and withdrawal in sadness—illuminating how discrete emotions shape perception and behavior through specific forms of organism–environment coupling. Additionally, the analysis reveals how interoceptive awareness and temporal dynamics constitute essential rather than merely accompanying features of emotional episodes. This integration of phenomenological detail with embodied approaches opens new possibilities for investigating how emotions fundamentally shape human existence while resolving apparent tensions between 4E frameworks and analysis of discrete emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)