Philosophical fascination with animals is traceable in significant part to perplexityproduced by the following two facts: (i) we are ourselves animals (and are endowed with capacities that need to be understood as actualizations of our animal natures) and (ii) animals are unmistakeably and mysteriously other. This seminar is concerned with the conversation formed by a number of interesting contemporary philosophical attempts to grapple with these facts. Seminar readings will include writings of, among others, Agamben, Anscombe, Coetzee, Derrida, Diamond, Foot, Goethe, Kant and Thompson.