180029 SE Robert Nozick: Anarchy, State, and Utopia (2016W)

Robert Nozick’s “Anarchy, State, and Utopia” (1974) is often read as an antithesis to John Rawls’ “Theory of Justice” (1971). While Rawls argues for an egalitarian society that accepts inequalities only insofar as they are to the benefit of the least well-off members, Nozick rejects redistributive schemes and limits legitimate state intervention to such basic tasks as protection against force and and enforcement of contracts. In an interview, Michael Sandel - an active third party in the controversy between his two department colleagues at Harvard University - summarizes the result of the debate as follows: “The Rawls/Nozick debate was, I think, pretty much over even before their deaths. In the philosophical world, Rawls and the Rawlsians won decisively; in the political world, I am afraid, the Nozickians won, but it isn’t philosophers, it is economists, who relish the victory”.
It is thus perhaps not surprising that in spite of this philosophical defeat, some “lists of bests” can be found on the internet that rank Nozick’s opus magnum as the “most influential book since WWII”. This class undertakes a careful close critical reading of Nozick’s text - with an eye on the scope and limits of the philosophical argument developed in this work.