ABSTRACT
Consider the opposing positions that everything of consequence is inside the head, and that nothing of consequence is inside the head. According to the former (a kind of solipsism), cognition takes place within a hermetically sealed skull affording no input from or access to the exterior; it is thus asocial and acontextual, contemplation being limited to what goes on inside. According to the latter, meaning is created through communicative interaction between people whose heads—for all intents and purposes—are totally empty. To state these positions explicitly is to see how silly they are. Even so, cognitive linguists are not infrequently charged with solipsism, and interactionist rhetoric sometimes gives the impression that anything inside the head is irrelevant.
