ABSTRACT
The relationships between the cognitive sciences in music and history, are complex to say the least. These relationships are all the more complex for the attempt to establish them at a moment when the cognitive sciences, just like the historical sciences, are rethinking their areas of coverage, their working, their tools and their concepts. This slow process of reconstruction in knowledge is undoubtedly taking place in parallel, but following different paths. The diversity of epistemological approaches stems from the current situation within each discipline. Whilst the cognitive sciences are achieving undeniable success in academic circles, musicology is in many cases struggling to prove its legitimacy. It is confronted with an institutional crisis affecting its position as a university discipline. A second reason for the diversity of epistemological approaches lies in the relation of both these disciplines to their own tradition.
