Oxana Timofeeva's The History of Animals: A Philosophy is an original and ambitious treatment of the "animal question". While philosophers have always made distinctions between human beings and animals, Timofeeva imagines a world free of such walls and borders. Timofeeva shows the way towards the full acceptance of our animality; an acceptance which does not mean the return to our animal roots, or anything similar. The freedom generated by this acceptance operates through negativity; is an effect of the rejection of the very core of metaphysical philosophy and Christian culture, traditionally opposed to our 'animal' nature and seemingly detached from it.

With a foreword by Slavoj Zizek, this book is accessible, jargon-free and ideal for students and all those interested in re-imagining how we engage with animals and the environment.

Oxana Timofeeva is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the European University in St. Petersburg, Russia, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a member of the art group Chto Delat.

preface
acknowledgements

Foreword by Slavoj Zizek
1. Oedipus the Horse
2. Before the Law
3. The Insane
4. Insecure, Anxious and Unhappy
5. Unemployed Animality
6. Dialectics of the Fish
7. The Shepherd of Being
8. Poor Life

bibliography
index