Robert Nozick

  robert nozick: Philosophical Explanations Robert Nozick, 1983-03-17 Nozick develops new views on philosophy’s central topics and weaves them into a unified perspective. He ranges widely over philosophy’s fundamental concerns: the identity of the self, knowledge and skepticism, free will, the question of why there is something rather than nothing, the foundations of ethics, the meaning of life.
  robert nozick: Examined Life Robert Nozick, 1990-12-15 An exploration of topics of everyday importance in the Socratic tradition.
  robert nozick: Anarchy, State, and Utopia Robert Nozick, 1974 Winner of the 1975 National Book Award, this brilliant and widely acclaimed book is a powerful philosophical challenge to the most widely held political and social positions of our age--liberal, socialist, and conservative.
  robert nozick: Robert Nozick David Schmidtz, 2002-02-21 This is a 2002 introductory volume to Robert Nozick, one of the dominant philosophical thinkers of the current age. It is part of a new series, Contemporary Philosophy in Focus. Each volume in the series will consist of newly commissioned essays that will cover all the major contributions of a preeminent philosopher in a systematic and accessible manner. Robert Nozick is one of the most creative and individual philosophical voices of the last 25 years. His most famous book, Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974), presents the classic defense of the libertarian view that only a minimal state is just. Nozick has also made significant contributions in later publications to such areas as rational choice theory, ethics, epistemology and philosophy of mind. Outside philosophy the book will be of particular interest to professionals and students in political science, law, economics, sociology and psychology.
  robert nozick: Socratic Puzzles Robert Nozick, 1997 One of the foremost philosophers of our time, Robert Nozick continues the Socratic tradition of investigation. This volume, which illustrates the originality, force, and scope of his work, also displays Nozick's trademark blending of extraordinary analytical rigor with intellectual playfulness. As such, Socratic Puzzles testifies to the great pleasure that both doing and reading philosophy can be. Comprising essays and philosophical fictions, classics and new work, the book ranges from Socrates to W. V. Quine, from the implications of an Israeli kibbutz to the flawed arguments of Ayn Rand. Nozick considers the figure of Socrates himself as well as the Socratic method (why is it a method of getting at the truth?). Many of these essays bring classic methods to bear on new questions about choice. How should you choose in a disconcerting situation (Newcomb's Problem) when your decisions are completely predictable? Why do threats and not offers typically coerce our choices? How do we make moral judgments when we realize that our moral principles have exceptions? Other essays present new approaches to familiar intellectual puzzles, from the stress on simplicity in scientific hypotheses to the tendency of intellectuals to oppose capitalism. As up to date as the latest reflections on animal rights; as perennial as the essentials of aesthetic merit (doggerel by Isaac Newton goes to prove that changing our view of the world won't suffice); as whimsical as a look at how some philosophical problems might appear from God's point of view: these essays attest to the timeliness and timelessness of Nozick's thinking. With a personal introduction, in which Nozick discusses the origins, tools, and themes of his work, Socratic Puzzles demonstrates how philosophy can constitute a way of life.
  robert nozick: Invariances Robert Nozick, 2001 Casting cultural controversies in a whole new light, an eminent philosopher presents bold, new theories that take into account scientific advances in physics, evolutionary biology, economics, and cognitive neurosience.
  robert nozick: Robert Nozick Jonathan Wolff, 1991 Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia is one of the works which dominate contemporary debate in political philosophy. Drawing on traditional assumptions associated with individualism and libertarianism, Nozick mounts a powerful argument for a minimal night-watchman state and challenges the views of many contemporary philosophers, most notably John Rawls. This book is the first full-length study of Nozick's work and of the debates to which it has given rise. Wolff situates Nozick's work in the context of current debates and examines the traditions which have influenced his thought. He then critically reconstructs the key arguments of Anarchy, State, and Utopia, focusing on Nozick's doctrine of rights, his derivation of the minimal state, and his Entitlement Theory of Justice. Wolff subjects Nozick's reasoning to rigorous scrutiny and argues that, despite the seductive simplicity of Nozick's libertarianism, it is, in the end, neither plausible nor wholly coherent. The book concludes by assessing Nozick's place in contemporary political philosophy.
  robert nozick: A Theory of Justice John RAWLS, 2009-06-30 Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls's view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls's theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes the first edition once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls's work.
  robert nozick: Robert Nozick Ralf M. Bader, 2013-08-01 Volume 11 of the Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers series focuses on Robert Nozick and his work on libertarianism.
  robert nozick: Robert Nozick Alan Lacey, 2014-12-18 Although best known for the hugely influential Anarchy, State and Utopia, Robert Nozick (1938-2002) eschewed the label 'political philosopher' because the vast majority of his writings and attention have focused on other areas. Indeed the breadth of Nozick's work is perhaps greater than that of any other contemporary philosopher. This book is the first to give full and proper discussion of Nozick's philosophy as a whole, including his influential work on the theory of knowledge, his notion of 'tracking the truth', his metaphysical writings on personal identity and free will, his evolutionary account of rationality, his varying treatments of Newcomb's paradox and his ideas on the meaning of life. Illuminating and informative, the book will be welcomed as an authoritative guide to Nozick's philosophical thinking.
  robert nozick: Nozick, Autonomy and Compensation Dale F. Murray, 2007-08-15 Murray examines Nozick's critique of the welfare state, argues the case for compensation and then offers a novel reconstruction of Nozick's libertarianism in the light of this analysis as a possible approach for more positive rights
  robert nozick: Encyclopedia of Global Justice Deen K. Chatterjee, 2012-01-23 This two-volume Encyclopedia of Global Justice, published by Springer, along with Springer's book series, Studies in Global Justice, is a major publication venture toward a comprehensive coverage of this timely topic. The Encyclopedia is an international, interdisciplinary, and collaborative project, spanning all the relevant areas of scholarship related to issues of global justice, and edited and advised by leading scholars from around the world. The wide-ranging entries present the latest ideas on this complex subject by authors who are at the cutting edge of inquiry. The Encyclopedia sets the tone and direction of this increasingly important area of scholarship for years to come. The entries number around 500 and consist of essays of 300 to 5000 words. The inclusion and length of entries are based on their significance to the topic of global justice, regardless of their importance in other areas.
  robert nozick: Experience Machines Mark Silcox, 2017-07-17 In his classic work Anarchy, State and Utopia, Robert Nozick asked his readers to imagine being permanently plugged into a 'machine that would give you any experience you desired'. The authors in this volume re-evaluate the merits of Nozick’s argument, and use it to examine subsequent developments in culture and technology.
  robert nozick: Justice Is an Option Robert Meister, 2021-02-19 In Justice as an Option, Robert Meister returns to the spirit of Marx to diagnose our current age of finance. Instead of closing our eyes to the political economic realities of our era and dreaming of a return to a more equitable time, we need to grapple with them head on. Meister does just that, asking if the very tools of finance that have created our vastly unequal world can be made to serve justice and equality. Boldly disproving the perceived inaccessibility of contemporary capitalism as a target of collective action, Meister formulates a democratic financial theory for the twenty-first century. Ranging between political philosophy, Marxism, and contemporary politics, Justice as an Option is an invigorating first page of a new-and sorely needed-leftist playbook--
  robert nozick: The Ethics of Liberty Murray N. Rothbard, 2015-07-04 The authoritative text on the libertarian political position In recent years, libertarian impulses have increasingly influenced national and economic debates, from welfare reform to efforts to curtail affirmative action. Murray N. Rothbard's classic The Ethics of Liberty stands as one of the most rigorous and philosophically sophisticated expositions of the libertarian political position. Rothbard’s unique argument roots the case for freedom in the concept of natural rights and applies it to a host of practical problems. And while his conclusions are radical—that a social order that strictly adheres to the rights of private property must exclude the institutionalized violence inherent in the state—Rothbard’s applications of libertarian principles prove surprisingly practical for a host of social dilemmas, solutions to which have eluded alternative traditions. The Ethics of Liberty authoritatively established the anarcho-capitalist economic system as the most viable and the only principled option for a social order based on freedom. This classic book’s radical insights are sure to inspire a new generation of readers.
  robert nozick: Imaginary Philosophical Dialogues Kenneth Binmore, 2020-12-23 How would Plato have responded if his student Aristotle had ever challenged his idea that our senses perceive nothing more than the shadows cast upon a wall by a true world of perfect ideals? What would Charles Darwin have said to Karl Marx about his claim that dialectical materialism is a scientific theory of evolution? How would Jean-Paul Sartre have reacted to Simone de Beauvoir’s claim that the Marquis de Sade was a philosopher worthy of serious attention? This light-hearted book proposes answers to such questions by imagining dialogues between thirty-three pairs of philosophical sages who were alive at the same time. Sometime famous sages get a much rougher handling than usual, as when Adam Smith beards Immanuel Kant in his Konigsberg den. Sometimes neglected or maligned sages get a chance to say what they really believed, as when Epicurus explains that he wasn’t epicurean. Sometimes the dialogues are about the origins of modern concepts, as when Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat discuss their invention of probability, or when John Nash and John von Neumann discuss the creation of game theory. Even in these scientific cases, the intention is that the protagonists come across as fallible human beings like the rest of us, rather than the intellectual paragons of philosophical textbooks.
  robert nozick: Natural Rights Liberalism from Locke to Nozick Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred Dycus Miller, Jeffrey Paul, 2005 The essays in this book have also been published, without introduction and index, in the semiannual journal Social philosophy & policy, volume 22, number 1--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references and index.
  robert nozick: Libertarianism without Inequality Michael Otsuka, 2003-07-03 Michael Otsuka sets out to vindicate left-libertarianism, a political philosophy which combines stringent rights of control over one's own mind, body, and life with egalitarian rights of ownership of the world. Otsuka reclaims the ideas of John Locke from the libertarian Right, and shows how his Second Treatise of Government provides the theoretical foundations for a left-libertarianism which is both more libertarian and more egalitarian than the Kantian liberal theories of John Rawls and Thomas Nagel. Otsuka's libertarianism is founded on a right of self-ownership. Here he is at one with 'right-wing' libertarians, such as Robert Nozick, in endorsing the highly anti-paternalistic and anti-moralistic implications of this right. But he parts company with these libertarians in so far as he argues that such a right is compatible with a fully egalitarian principle of equal opportunity for welfare. In embracing this principle, his own version of left-libertarianism is more strongly egalitarian than others which are currently well known. Otsuka argues that an account of legitimate political authority based upon the free consent of each is strengthened by the adoption of such an egalitarian principle. He defends a pluralistic, decentralized ideal of political society as a confederation of voluntary associations. Part I of Libertarianism without Inequality concerns the natural rights of property in oneself and the world. Part II considers the natural rights of punishment and self-defence that form the basis for the government's authority to legislate and punish. Part III explores the nature and limits of the powers of governments which are created by the consensual transfer of the natural rights of the governed. Libertarianism without Inequality is a book which everyone interested in political theory should read.
  robert nozick: Liberty (Not the Daughter But the Mother of Order) ... , 1882
  robert nozick: In the Shadow of Justice Katrina Forrester, 2019-09-24 A forceful, encyclopedic study.—Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times A history of how political philosophy was recast by the rise of postwar liberalism and irrevocably changed by John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice In the Shadow of Justice tells the story of how liberal political philosophy was transformed in the second half of the twentieth century under the influence of John Rawls. In this first-ever history of contemporary liberal theory, Katrina Forrester shows how liberal egalitarianism—a set of ideas about justice, equality, obligation, and the state—became dominant, and traces its emergence from the political and ideological context of the postwar United States and Britain. In the aftermath of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, Rawls’s A Theory of Justice made a particular kind of liberalism essential to political philosophy. Using archival sources, Forrester explores the ascent and legacy of this form of liberalism by examining its origins in midcentury debates among American antistatists and British egalitarians. She traces the roots of contemporary theories of justice and inequality, civil disobedience, just war, global and intergenerational justice, and population ethics in the 1960s and ’70s and beyond. In these years, political philosophers extended, developed, and reshaped this liberalism as they responded to challenges and alternatives on the left and right—from the New International Economic Order to the rise of the New Right. These thinkers remade political philosophy in ways that influenced not only their own trajectory but also that of their critics. Recasting the history of late twentieth-century political thought and providing novel interpretations and fresh perspectives on major political philosophers, In the Shadow of Justice offers a rigorous look at liberalism’s ambitions and limits.
  robert nozick: Life, Death, and Meaning David Benatar, 2016-03-28 Do our lives have meaning? Should we create more people? Is death bad? Should we commit suicide? Would it be better to be immortal? Should we be optimistic or pessimistic? Since Life, Death, and Meaning: Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions first appeared, David Benatar's distinctive anthology designed to introduce students to the key existential questions of philosophy has won a devoted following among users in a variety of upper-level and even introductory courses. While many philosophers in the continental tradition—those known as existentialists—have engaged these issues at length and often with great popular appeal, English-speaking philosophers have had relatively little to say on these important questions. Yet, the methodology they bring to philosophical questions can, and occasionally has, been applied usefully to existential questions. This volume draws together a representative sample of primarily English-speaking philosophers' reflections on life's big questions, divided into six sections, covering (1) the meaning of life, (2) creating people, (3) death, (4) suicide, (5) immortality, and (6) optimism and pessimism. These key readings are supplemented with helpful introductions, study questions, and suggestions for further reading, making the material accessible and interesting for students. In short, the book provides a singular introduction to the way that philosophy has dealt with the big questions of life that we are all tempted to ask.
  robert nozick: Equality and Liberty J. Angelo Corlett, 2016-07-27 Equality and Liberty: Analysing Rawls and Nozick is an indispensable source for those seriously interested in some rigorous assessments of the ideas of America's two most popular political philosophers. The essays in this volume cover a wide range of topics, some engaging each other in their analyses of particular Rawlsian or Nozickian themes. This collection of recent essays brings the student up-to-date concerning some of the more recent developments and assessments of Rawlsian and Nozickian ideas.
  robert nozick: Philosophy as Criticism Ilham Dilman, Brian Davies, Mario von der Ruhr, 2011-03-17 >
  robert nozick: On Classical Liberalism and Libertarianism Norman Barry, 1987-07-14 This first systematic analysis of the full range of classical liberal thinking covers the utilitarianism of Hume, Smith and their successors, the Austrian and Chicago schools of political economy, 'contractarian' liberalism and the ethical individualism of Ayn Rand and Robert Nozick. Norman Barry also discusses the hitherto barely understood theory of anarcho-capitalism and throughout his analysis draws attention to the differences in fundamental philosophical outlook that underline superficially similar policy positions.
  robert nozick: Robert Nozick A R Lacey, 2014-05-09 This book is the first to give full and proper discussion of Nozick's philosophy as a whole. Lacey not only examines Anarchy, State and Utopia, but also explores Nozick's work on the theory of knowledge, his metaphysical writings, including those on personal identity and free will, and the moral basis of his political philosophy as outlined in Philosophical Explanations.
  robert nozick: School of Thought: 101 Great Liberal Thinkers Eamonn Butler, 2019-08-15 School of Thought – 101 Great Liberal Thinkers profiles the lives and ideas of some of the leading thinkers on individual liberty – from ancient times to the present day. Award-winning author Eamonn Butler outlines key elements of liberal thought and takes a chronological look at those who shaped it across the centuries. He identifies their common goals – but also highlights their differing views on, for example, the extent of government involvement in our daily lives. For anyone interested in politics, government, social institutions, capitalism, rights, liberty and morality, School of Thought – 101 Great Liberal Thinkers provides a clear and concise introduction to a set of radical ideas – and the thinkers behind them.
  robert nozick: Essays in Honor of Carl G. Hempel N. Rescher, 2013-03-09 The eminent philosopher of science Carl G. Hempel, Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University and a Past President of the American Philosophical Association, has had a long and distinguished academic career in the course of which he has been professorial mentor to some of America's most distinguished philosophers. This volume gathers together twelve original papers by Hempel's students and associates into a volume intended to do homage to Hempel on the occasion of his 65th year in 1970. The papers are grouped around the unifying topic of Hempel's own interests in logic and philosophy of science, the great majority dealing with issues on inductive logic and the theory of scientific explanatio- problems to which Hempel has devoted the bulk of his outstandingly fruitful efforts. With the approach of 'Peter' Hempel's 65th birthday, an editorial committee sprang into being by an uncannily spontaneous process to prepare to commemorate this event with an appropriate Festschrift. The editors were pleased to receive unfailingly prompt and efficient coopera tion on the part of all contributors. The responsibility of seeing the work through the press was assumed by Nicholas Rescher. The editors are grateful to all concerned for their collaboration. ALAN ROSS ANDERSON PAUL BENACERRAF ADOLF GRUNBAUM GERALD J. MASSEY NICHOLAS RESCHER RICHARD S. RUDNER TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE V PAUL OPPENHEIM: Reminiscences of Peter 1 w. v. QUINE: Natural Kinds 5 JAAKKO HINTIKKA: Inductive Independence and the Paradoxes of Confirmation 24 WESLEY c.
  robert nozick: The Original Position Timothy Hinton, 2015-12-10 This volume explores and analyses the continued relevance and ramifications of the original position, the central idea of John Rawls's political philosophy.
  robert nozick: Libertarianism Jason Brennan, 2012 With the rise of the Tea Party movement, libertarian principles have risen to the forefront of Republican politics. But libertarianism is more than the philosophy of individual freedom and unfettered markets that Republicans have embraced. Brennan offers a nuanced portrait of libertarianism, proceeding through a series of questions to illuminate the essential elements of libertarianism and the problems the philosophy addresses, and overturns numerous misconceptions.
  robert nozick: Reading Nozick Jeffrey Paul, 1981
  robert nozick: Conservatism Ted Honderich, 1990
  robert nozick: Nozick's Libertarian Project Mark D. Friedman, 2011-03-17 Elaborating on and defending a rigorous, rights-based libertarianism, Mark D. Friedman here develops the seminal ideas articulated by Robert Nozick in his landmark work Anarchy, State and Utopia. Consolidating more than three decades of scholarly and popular writing to have emerged in the wake of Nozick's text, Friedman offers a 21st century defense of the minimal libertarian state. In the course of this analysis, and drawing on further insights offered by the work of F.A. Hayek, Nozick's Libertarian Project shows that natural rights libertarianism can offer convincing answers to the fundamental questions that lie at the heart of political theory. The book also rebuts many of the most common criticisms to have been levelled at this worldview, including those from left libertarians and from egalitarians such as as G.A. Cohen.
  robert nozick: Life, Death & Meaning David Benatar, 2004 Do our lives have meaning? Should we create more people? Is death bad? Should we commit suicide? Would it be better if we were immortal? Should we be optimistic or pessimistic? Life, Death and Meaning brings together key readings, primarily by English-speaking philosophers, on such big questions.
  robert nozick: Epistemology Ernest Sosa, Jaekwon Kim, Jeremy Fantl, Matthew McGrath, 2008-02-11 New and thoroughly updated, Epistemology: An Anthology continues to represent the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of canonical readings in the theory of knowledge. Concentrates on the central topics of the field, such as skepticism and the Pyrrhonian problematic, the definition of knowledge, and the structure of epistemic justification Offers coverage of more specific topics, such as foundationalism vs coherentism, and virtue epistemology Presents wholly new sections on 'Testimony, Memory, and Perception' and 'The Value of Knowledge' Features modified sections on 'The Structure of Knowledge and Justification', 'The Non-Epistemic in Epistemology', and 'The Nature of the Epistemic' Includes many of the most important contributions made in recent decades by several outstanding authors
  robert nozick: The Libertarian Idea Jan Narveson, 2008
  robert nozick: Taking a Stand Robert Higgs, 2015 This book collects almost a hundred short pieces that Robert Higgs has written in recent years. The topics range widely, reflecting his varied interests and experience: Most of them may be described as analytical commentaries or observations. Most are substantive, dealing with definite actors and events, but a substantial number are more methodological, dealing with how various analysts have dealt with particular subjects or how analysts can, in my judgment, deal most effectively with certain subjects. A substantial number of them pertain to the nature and functioning of the state; many with the economy, both as a whole and in regard to sectors or specific aspects of its operation. One section pertains to commentaries on libertarianism, an ideology I have long embraced, though the precise nature of my (Higgs) embrace has changed over the years--
  robert nozick: The Sensitivity Principle in Epistemology Kelly Becker, Tim Black, 2015-07-09 The sensitivity principle is a compelling idea in epistemology and is typically characterized as a necessary condition for knowledge. This collection of thirteen new essays constitutes a state-of-the-art discussion of this important principle. Some of the essays build on and strengthen sensitivity-based accounts of knowledge and offer novel defences of those accounts. Others present original objections to sensitivity-based accounts (objections that must be taken seriously even by those who defend enhanced versions of sensitivity) and offer comprehensive analysis and discussion of sensitivity's virtues and problems. The resulting collection will stimulate new debate about the sensitivity principle and will be of great interest and value to scholars and advanced students of epistemology.
Robert Nozick - Wikipedia
Robert Nozick (/ ˈnoʊzɪk /; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University, [3] and was …

Robert Nozick | Libertarian Philosopher, Harvard Professor ...
Robert Nozick (born Nov. 16, 1938, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 23, 2002, Cambridge, Mass.) was an American philosopher, best known for his rigorous defense of libertarianism in his first …

Robert Nozick’s Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia ...
Jun 22, 2014 · Robert Nozick (1938–2002) was a renowned American philosopher who first came to be widely known through his 1974 book, Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), which won the …

Nozick, Robert | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A thinker with wide-ranging interests, Robert Nozick was one of the most important and influential political philosophers, along with John Rawls, in the Anglo-American analytic tradition.

Robert Nozick’s Philosophy - philosophiesoflife.org
Robert Nozick (1938–2002) was a prominent American philosopher who rose to fame during the latter half of the 20th century. Born on November 16, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York, Nozick grew …

Nozick, Robert (1938-2002): A Libertarianism.org Guide
Aug 15, 2008 · Robert Nozick was a writer, a philosopher, and, at one time, a leading supporter of libertarian thought. Two Harvard professors resuscitated political philosophy in the American …

Robert Nozick - Essential Scholars
Robert Nozick was a Harvard philosophy professor best known for his contributions to political philosophy. Educated at Columbia and Princeton, Nozick would go on to become a Fulbright …

Robert Nozick - Wikipedia
Robert Nozick (/ ˈnoʊzɪk /; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the …

Robert Nozick | Libertarian Philosopher, Harvard Profess…
Robert Nozick (born Nov. 16, 1938, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 23, 2002, Cambridge, Mass.) was an American …

Robert Nozick’s Political Philosophy (Stanford Encyclo…
Jun 22, 2014 · Robert Nozick (1938–2002) was a renowned American philosopher who first came to be …

Nozick, Robert | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A thinker with wide-ranging interests, Robert Nozick was one of the most important and influential political …

Robert Nozick’s Philosophy - philosophiesoflife.org
Robert Nozick (1938–2002) was a prominent American philosopher who rose to fame during the latter half of …