The Philosophical Animal is one that well-nigh obsessively desires, seeks, finds, sets, and thematizes philosophical questions. By (re)presenting eight animal species (snakes, insects, birds, monkeys, dogs, domestic animals, monsters, and cats), the book follows the symbolic values ascribed to them and the changes in our relationship towards animals as well as ourselves. How do they appear and what do they mean, above all in a philosophical, but also in the literary, ethnological, mythological, and religious literature? What do they signalize, and what do they stand for as metaphors; what kinds of terminological set-up do they imply and what kind of thinking provoke? What do they indicate, and what invite? And what, finally, do they say about the human animal, the one wishing to speak about them? Wary of a double danger – on the one hand, discursive violence of the already terminologically prepared animal, and identificatory sentimental advocacy on the other – The Philosophical Animal provides no ultimate answers to these questions; rather, it gives directions for thought that might provide a reasonable, inspiring, and productive debate on animals.