Not sure they'd be erudite or all that philosophical..
I am undecided on the speaky buttons thing - I think some dogs have got a pretty strong understanding of what each button achieves them. And I suspect others are not much more than 'Clever Hans', being influenced by the owner/handler/trainer to look like they're making sense.
Theres a huge range of mental capacity, problem solving ability etc among dogs though. Just looking at problem solving...
Friends Mini Poo can get what she wants, take it to where she wants it, whether its a chew or a toy or an item she thinks she can 'sell' to her owner for a treat, or a bed to lie on to be comfy.
My saluki can't pick up a toy out of her bed to move it out of her way, she will lie on it and be uncomfy, or lie somewhere else, or stare at it and grump until we fix it for her. (But if the toy were elsewhere and she wanted it in her bed to chew, she could get it and take it to bed...)
I think 'thoughts' are a fleeting thing for her, every few hours one trundles through her brain and is often on its way before she has realised - whereas with friends Poodle... i suspect shes plotting to over-throw the universe at all times!
Some dogs are real thinkers and some are just 'react in the moment'ers, some are much more driven by innate, genetic instinct, and some want guidance from us at every turn and their innate behaviours are very poor and its all because of our meddling and selective breeding. Theres no evolutionary advantage or pressure for dogs to be thinkers or problem solvers or to have good innate caching skills or the ability to think before reacting, because we will (on the whole) protect them.
Right, off to do some doggy headology on some people, since Cesar spit Milan ruined the concept of dog whisperer, I think of myself as a dog-witch these days (a Sir Terry style, headology based, tiny bit of Boffo sort of job, pointy hat implied).