Is it ever morally permissible for humans to kill and eat animals? When is it ever morally permissible for humans to kill and eat animals? This is a question whose answer has been discussed since the early period of Stoic philosophy up until today with the “rights view”. Famous philosophers, Tom Regan and Epictetus, use two different moral theories to defend what is morally permissible. Tom Regan uses the moral theory of the “rights view” to overcome a situation in which our moral obligations must be ignored by making it morally permissible to kill and sometimes eat animals. The Stoic philosophy of Epictetus holds that Providence gives non-human animals to rational human animals (to do as they wish) making it morally permissible for humans to kill and eat animals in accordance with nature. The rights view: According to the “rights view” moral theory, since humans are capable of moral obligations, they have a prima facie moral obligation not to kill animals, and since animals are incapable of understanding the moral obligation , animals have a prima facie moral right to live (Lehman). Prima facie is a term used when a view is considered correct until proven otherwise. The “rights vision,” however, does not say that humans can never kill animals. Indeed, under certain conditions, prima facie moral obligations can be ignored making it morally permissible for humans to kill animals. In a condition known as the “lifeboat situation” one must choose whether to ignore animal rights. Tom Regan uses the lifeboat situation to make the case for overriding the rights of any animal. An example of the lifeboat situation defended by Regan is a ship at sea capsizing and four humans and a dog... center of paper... state of animals.4. Regan, Tom. Defense of animal rights. Urbana: U of Illinois, 2001. Print.a. Tom uses the “rights view” to advocate for animal rights. Supports the ethical theories of direct and indirect duties, perfectionism, despotism, contractualism, Kantianism (Thomas Aquinas) and utilitarianism.5. Visak, Tatjana. Killing happy animals: Explorations in utilitarian ethics. Np: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Print.a. Tatjana uses two versions of utilitarianism as a moral theory to explore the moral issues of animal husbandry. One version can morally justify that the routine killing of animals is wrong and the other version can morally justify the need for greater animal protection..