RECORD: Darwin, C. R. [1872]. Abstract of Cobbe, The consciousness of Dogs. CUL-DAR87.79. Edited by John van Wyhe (The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 3.2022. RN2
NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volumes CUL-DAR87-90 contain material for Darwin's book Descent of man 2d ed. (1874-1877).
[79]
Q. Review Oct. 72 p. 420. The consciousness of Dogs.
Miss Cobbe says — it has been assumed that a Dog never thinks "I am a dog"—"Such self-consciousness, the sense of moral responsibility, & the power of forming abstract ideas, are in truth, it wd appear 3 phases of the same thing — three things which must exist together or not at all." — I might introduce abstract idea of danger or prey — case of fowls cry from Houzeau — for Hawks & land enemies. — I ought to add after about dreaming, for we have no reason to believe that dreams may produce single memory — like waking memory scenes which have transpired — that dreams are simple memory.—
[Cobbe, Frances Power.] 1872. The consciousness of dogs. Quarterly Review 133: 226-242. PDF
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
File last updated 21 August, 2025