He usually concludes that the cost to the animals outweighs the benefit to others.

             Singer's contender, Tom Regan set forth another animal rights view in a 1983 book, The Case for Animal Rights. Regan emphasizes that not only people, but also many animals are entitled to certain rights. He bases his reasoning on the idea that both humans and animals have an elementary understanding of the world and know generally what they desire from life. Regan's rights-based philosophy says that most mammals older than one year qualify for basic rights. Furthermore, Regan argues that it is wrong for humans to use animals for their own needs and in general, to deprive animals of their rights.

             Regan disagrees with Singer's utilitarian program for animal liberation. Regan allocates intrinsic value to animals and humans. This value describes the animals', or human's right to life and concern for them. Regan feels that the utilitarian view lacks this intrinsic value. In addition, he states the goals of his theologies: "The total abolition of the use of animals in science, the total dissolution of commercial animal agriculture, and the total elimination of commercial and sport hunting and trapping." In addition, he sees Singer's utilitarian view noted above, failing on two accounts. First, utilitarianism is concerned only with the desires of a being, e.g. such as the desire for pleasure. At the same time the view takes no regard for the inherent worth of these beings (human or animal). Second, Regan emphasizes the problem of utilitarianism that it would be morally permissible to arbitrarily make an individual suffer for the benefit of the greater good. Regan issues that "the best theory of morality will be one that grants rights to all beings who have inherent worth. This prevents morality from becoming an exclusive club as in contractarianism, and does not allow individuals to be exploited on behalf of the greater good.