"Brutes", "beasts", "automata" are only three of the names given to animals in Western thought, but they exemplify the central positions within the controversies surrounding the nature of the animal. With more than one hundred text excerpts in chronological order, this anthology offers a representative overview of the ideas on the subject of "animals" from antiquity to the present. Not only the classics of intellectual history have their say, but also lesser-known authors. A number of texts have been translated especially for the anthology and are presented here in German for the first time. Philosophical, popular scientific, literary, journalistic and polemical texts offer insight into the many facets of thinking about animals. The proponents of the view that there is an insurmountable gulf between humans and animals and that humans have an unrestricted claim to dominion over animals have been in great numbers over the last two thousand years, but there have always been voices in favour of animals. The following, among others, have their say as pioneers and forerunners of the idea of animal protection from antiquity to modern times and as founders of the modern animal protection and animal rights movement: Plutarch, Porphyrios, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Tryon, Humphry Primatt, Wilhelm Dietler, Lauritz Smith, Hermann Gaggett, Jean Antoine Gleizés, Lewis Gompertz and Henry S. Salt. The editor Manuela Linnemann wrote the article "Tierrecht" (Animal Law) for the Historisches W&ouml rterbuch der Philosophie.