Sein Forschungsgebiet ist der moralische Status von Tieren, die Geschichte der modernen Philosophie, Jacques Derrida, europäische, insbesondere deutsche, Philosophie des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts und Descartes.
Steiner studierte zunächst Wirtschaftswissenschaften an der University of California, Los Angeles und schloss 1977 mit einem B.A. ab. Er erhielt 1981 seinen B.A. in Philosophie an der University of California, Berkeley und promovierte 1991 in Philosophie über The Idea of a Ground for Ethical Commitment in Descartes and Heidegger an der Yale University. Im Anschluss war er bis 1986 Graduate Fellow der Yale University. Er nahm dann diverse Professuren der Bucknell University an, wo er seit 2005 die John-Howard-Harris-Professur innehält. (Stand 2011)
Animals and the Moral Community: Mental Life, Moral Status, and Kinship, Columbia University Press, 2008
Anthropocentrism and Its Discontents: The Moral Status of Animals in the History of Western Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005
Rosemary-ClaireCollard:Book review of Anthropocentrism and Its Discontents: The Moral Status of Animals in the History of Western Thought by Gary Steiner. In: Journal for Critical Animal Studies. 12. Jahrgang, Nr.1, 2011, ISSN1188-9071, S.187–189 (brocku.ca).
Descartes as a Moral Thinker: Christianity, Technology, Nihilism, Journal of the History of Philosophy Book Series, Prometheus/Humanity Books, 2004
„The Epistemic Status of Medicine in Descartes,“ International Philosophical Quarterly 51, no. 1 (March, 2011): 51–68
„Tierrecht und die Grenzen des Postmodernismus: Der Fall Derrida“ [Animal Rights and the Limits of Postmodernism: The Case of Derrida], ALTEXethik 27 (2010): 3–10
„The Cultural Significance of Rembrandt's 'Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaas Tulp',“ History of European Ideas 36 (2010): 273-9
„Plutarch on the Question of Justice for Animals,“ Ploutarchos 7 (2009/2010): 73–82
„Cosmic Justice,“ Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare, expanded ed., ed. Marc Bekoff, Greenwood Publishing, 2009, vol. 1, pp. 149-53
„Descartes,“ History of Western Philosophy of Religion, 5 vols., ed. Graham Oppy and Nick Trakakis, Oxford University Press/Acumen Publishers, 2009, vol. 3, pp. 101-12
„Das Tier bei Aristoteles und den Stoikern: Evolution eines kosmischen Prinzips“ [Animals in Aristotle and the Stoics: The Evolution of a Cosmic Principle], Mensch und Tier in der Antike – Grenzziehung und Grenzüberschreitung, ed. Annetta Alexandridis, Lorenz Winkler-Horacek, and Markus Wild, Reichert-Verlag, 2009, pp. 27–46
„What I Learned from a Cat that No Philosopher Could Teach Me,“ What Philosophy Can Tell You About Your Cat, ed. Steven D. Hales, Open Court, 2008, pp. 3–14
„Foreword“ to Gary Francione, Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation, Columbia University Press, 2008, pp. ix-xii
„Cosmic Holism and Obligations Toward Animals: A Challenge to Liberal Individualism,“ Journal of Animal Law and Ethics 2 (2007): 1–20
„Descartes, Christianity, and Contemporary Speciesism,“ A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics, ed. Paul Waldau and Kimberly Patton, Columbia University Press, 2006, pp. 117–131
„The Perils of a Total Critique of Reason: Rethinking Heidegger’s Influence,“ Philosophy Today 47 (2003): 93–111
„Descartes on the Moral Status of Animals,“ Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 80 (1998): 268-91
„'This project is mad': Descartes, Derrida, and the Notion of Philosophical Crisis,“ Man and World 30 (1997): 179–198
Vier Artikel für ein Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory, Blackwell, 1995: „Transcendental Philosophy“; „Maurice Merleau-Ponty“; „Manfred Frank“; „Ernst Tugendhat“
„Heidegger's Reflection on Alétheia: Merely a Terminological Shift?“ Auslegung 13 (1986): 38–50