ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a complex phenomenon, one that may be approached from three distinct entry points. Each entry point corresponds to the traditions of one of the three cognitive disciplines – philosophy, linguistics, psychology. The latter intersects with a fourth tradition, that of neurology. In spite of extreme diversity in method and frame of reference, these traditions seem to converge at, define – or at the very least evoke – a recognizable core phenomenon. Of the three, philosophy’s claim to a share in this convergence is a bit more tentative, perhaps only suggestive. This is of course no accident, given the traditional remoteness of the mother discipline from empirical concerns.
