Two areas of investigation and professional practice--language teachers' philosophies and language teacher cognition--can be considered as related, perhaps overlapping, insofar as they are both the result of thought. The concept of a philosophy of teaching may hold together sets of language teacher cognitions, or guide specific investigations of such sets, and thus might contribute to redrawing the investigative boundaries of this area. Theoretical discussion in this article explores this matter, and supports the general idea of expanding the boundaries of language teacher cognition in ways that might facilitate inquiry into philosophies of teaching. Guided by critical perspectives on second language teaching, this exploration narrows down to focus on one category of language teachers' philosophies--critical ones--and considers what some of their content might be, what "cognitions" or areas of cognitive activity might be involved, and further considers problems of conceptual and theoretical congruence. In concluding, practical implications in terms of content for language teacher education and associated research are briefly considered.