Are Cats Self Aware

Cats seem as self-aware as most of the humans I have met, but I can't be sure that anyone, execpt me is self-aware (I think therefore I am, and unless I can read your thoughts, then I have knowing that You are self-aware, but I'll act on the assumption that y'all are).

I think cats are... so pensive... and they always know when to bug us humans for attention. Just go read a newspaper to see what I mean.

• Cats are self-aware. A being is catagorised as self-aware if it has self-perservation, which cats do.

The short answer: yes. The long answer: not really. In the same way that an ant, seeing a you, wouldn't think you were an animal since, on the ant's scale, you're too big and slow to be perceptibly alive we can't see that cats are in fact super-conscious. They have an awareness that extends far beyond the "self-awareness" that we're so proud of: just as an ant can't grasp the scale in which we are alive, we cannot grasp the scale in which cats are conscious. They are not self-aware because they're all the way through self-awareness and out the other side.

 -- Charlie

My sister's cat is fucking creepy. He stares at me with these malevolent yellow eyes, like he's planning my eventual demise. He's not only self-aware; he's aware of everything around him, and is planning the destruction of it all! My friends all agree that this cat is evil, but unfortunately my sister has been seduced so she can't see what lurks in the depths of this seemingly innocent animal.

~Eire

My cat sure LOOKS like he's self-aware. Yeah.

 - Emma

I think cats exist in the same half-aware state we do in dreams. We are not concious that we are dreaming, yet we act as if we are self aware and can decide our own actions. I believe that this is reversed for cats. In 'real life' cats are self aware in a non aware sort of way. When asleep, they are self aware. Cats are obviously higher beings.

Yes, I've just been reading CheesePizzas, and GreenAndWhiteAreTheSameColor. :)

-marina

why do used bookstores always have a cat or two hanging around? has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

• I have. It's very strange. But I sort of like it, it gives the atmosphere a calm-welcome feeling. ~Jekissa

I think my cat is self-aware. Sometimes I catch him admiring himself in the mirror. I think he purposely sleeps right in front of the mirror in our hallway so that he can get a better view of things when he bathes himself. So vain. ;)

Mari

The cats I know seem to be sort of self aware. Subconsciously. I've noticed the same thing with other kinds of pets. ~Beth