Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a work of political philosophy written by Robert Nozick in 1974. This highly acclaimed libertarian book was the winner of the 1975 National Book Award. In opposition to A Theory of Justice by John Rawls, Nozick argues in favor of a minimal state, "limited to the narrow functions of protection against force, theft, fraud, enforcement of contracts, and so on." When a state takes on more responsibilities than these, Nozick argues, rights will be violated. To support the idea of the minimal state, Nozick posits an ultraminimal state as a thought experiment and attempts to show how it will lead to a minimal state. Political philosophy is the study of the fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, property, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should... Robert Nozick (November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher and Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... This article deals with the libertarianism as defined in America and several other nations. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... The National Book Awards is the most important literary prize in the United States, presented annually for the best books by living U.S. citizens published in the U.S. The awards have been presented since 1950 in at least one category, and is presently awarded in each of four... A Theory of Justice is a book of political and moral philosophy by John Rawls. ... John Rawls (February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American philosopher, a professor of political philosophy at Harvard University and author of A Theory of Justice (1971), Political Liberalism, and The Law of Peoples. ... In philosophy, physics, and other fields, a thought experiment (from the German Gedankenexperiment) is an attempt to solve a problem using the power of human imagination. ...

Nozick's Entitlement Theory, influenced by John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Hayek, which sees humans as ends in themselves and justifies redistribution of goods only on condition of consent, is a key aspect of Anarchy, State, and Utopia. The book has been translated into 11 languages and was named one of the "100 most influential books since the war" by the Times Literary Supplement. The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Locke Free, full-text works by John Locke Works by John Locke at Project Gutenberg Works by Locke on the Web John Locke Online Bibliography Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry John Locke Bibliography John Locke Manuscripts Readable versions of the Essay... His tomb and its pillared enclosure outside the cathedral in Königsberg are some of the few artifacts of German times preserved by the Soviets after they conquered East Prussia in 1945. ... Friedrich Hayek Friedrich August von Hayek (May 8, 1899 in Vienna – March 23, 1992 in Freiburg) was an economist and social scientist of the Austrian School, noted for his defense of liberal democracy and free-market capitalism against a rising tide of socialist and collectivist thought in the mid-20th... The Times Literary Supplement (or TLS) is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation. ...

The book also contains a vigorous defense of libertarianism against more extreme views, such as anarcho-capitalism (in which there is no state and individuals must contract with private companies for all social services). Nozick argues that anarcho-capitalism would inevitably transform into a minarchist state, even without violating any of its own non-aggression principles, through the eventual emergence of a single locally-dominant private defense and judicial agency that it is in everyone's interests to align with, because other agencies are unable to effectively compete against the advantages of the agency with majority coverage. Therefore, he felt that, even to the extent that the anarcho-capitalist theory is correct, it results in an unstable system that would not endure in the real world. Anarcho-capitalism refers to an anti-statist philosophy that embraces capitalism as one of its foundational principles. ... Anarcho-capitalism refers to an anti-statist philosophy that embraces capitalism as one of its foundational principles. ... In civics, Minarchism, sometimes called minimal statism, is the view that government should be as small as possible. ...

Criticisms

Fellow libertarian (but anarcho-capitalist) Murray Rothbard has criticised Anarchy State and Utopia in his article "Robert Nozick and the Immaculate Conception of the State" [1] on the basis that: This article deals with the libertarianism as defined in America and several other nations. ... Anarcho-capitalism is a view that regards all forms of the state as unnecessary and harmful, particularly in matters of justice and self-defense, while being highly supportive of private property. ... Murray Newton Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2, 1926 - January 7, 1995) was an American economist and political theorist belonging to the Austrian School of Economics who helped define modern libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism. ...

• (1) that no existing State has been "immaculately conceived" in the way envisaged by Nozick;
• (2) that on Nozick's account the only minimal State that could possibly be justified is one that would emerge after a free-market anarchist world had been established;
• (3) that therefore Nozick, on his own grounds, should become an anarchist and then wait for the Nozickian invisible hand to operate afterward; and
• (4) that even if any State had been founded immaculately, the fallacies of social contract theory would mean that no present State, even a minimal one, would be justified.

Social contract (or contractarianism) is a phrase used in philosophy, political science and sociology to denote a real or hypothetical agreement within a state regarding the rights and responsibilities of the state and its citizens, or more generally a similar concord between a group and its members, or between individuals. ...

References

• Robinson, Dave & Groves, Judy (2003). Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X.

External link

• Rothbard, Murray: Robert Nozick and the Immaculate Conception of the State