From caged orangutans to roasted pig, from dog training to horse phobias, from communicating bees to ruminating cows, Derek Ryan explores how animals are encountered in theoretical discourse. Over the course of an introduction and four thematically organised chapters on 'Animals as Humans', 'Animal Ontology', 'Animal Life' and 'Animal Ethics', he critically engages with a diverse range of ancient, modern and contemporary thinkers including Aristotle, Plutarch, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Locke, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Lacan, Nagel, Levinas, Deleuze, Derrida, Singer, Regan, Diamond, Adams, Haraway, Nussbaum, Badiou and Braidotti. To supplement the theoretical material, each chapter contains lively close readings of contemporary literary texts by Carter, Coetzee, Auster and Foer. Intended as a resource for researchers, students, teachers and all those interested in human-animal relationships, Animal Theory: A Critical Introduction provides an accessible and authoritative account of the challenges and potential in thinking about and with animals.