Memory, thought and conscience in Christian Wolff

The paper adopts a more systematic than historical point of view on Christian Wolff's metaphysics and, in particular, on his theory of consciousness. It is interested in controversial writings of those days with reference e.g. to Lange, Ludovici and an officer of the Prussian army so-called Bequignolo: the latter, though he was no professional philosopher, found a few serious defects of Wolff's theory of consciousness in the latter's German Metaphysics. By refusing to grant reason to animals and by describing the dog's memory in terms very close to the self memory specific to persons, Wolff couldn't avoid contradicting himself.