Western Philosophy 20th-century philosophy
Name	Robert Nozick
Birth	November 16, 1938 Brooklyn, New York
Death	January 23, 2002
School/tradition	Analytic · Political
Influenced by	John Locke · Immanuel Kant · Friedrich Hayek

Robert Nozick (November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher and Pellegrino University Professor at Harvard University. Schooled at Columbia, Princeton, and Oxford, he was a prominent American political philosopher in the 1970s and 1980s. He did additional but less influential work in such subjects as decision theory and epistemology. His Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) was a libertarian answer to John Rawls's A Theory of Justice, published in 1971. He was born in Brooklyn, the son of a Jewish entrepreneur from Russia, and married the American poet Gjertrud Schnackenberg. Nozick died in 2002 after a prolonged struggle with cancer. His remains are interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... The position of Joseph Pellegrino University Professor is the most distinguished position a Harvard University professor can attain. ... Harvard redirects here. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what... Decision theory is an area of study of discrete mathematics that models human decision-making in science, engineering and indeed all human social activities. ... Theory of knowledge redirects here: for other uses, see theory of knowledge (disambiguation) According to Plato, knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief. ... Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a work of political philosophy written by Robert Nozick in 1974. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ... 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, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, and The Law of Peoples. ... A Theory of Justice is a book of political and moral philosophy by John Rawls. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... This article is about the New York City borough, or Kings County, New York. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Gjertrud Schnackenberg (1953 - ) is an American poet. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these to spread, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion, or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis (where cancer cells are transported through the bloodstream or lymphatic system). ... Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery Hunnewell family obelisk Civil War memorial Founded in 1831 as Americas first garden cemetery, Mount Auburn Cemetery is an Elysium where, traditionally, chaste classical monuments were set in rolling landscaped terrain. ... Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1630 Incorporated 1636 Government  - Type Mayor-City Council  - Mayor Kenneth Reeves (D) Area  - Total 7. ...

Philosophical achievements

Politics

Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia, which garnered a National Book Award the following year, argues among other things, that a distribution of goods is just, so long as the distribution was brought about by free exchanges by consenting adults and was made from a just starting position, even if large inequalities emerge from the process. Nozick appealed to the Kantian idea that people should be treated as ends (what he termed 'separateness of persons'), not merely as a means. For example, forced redistribution of income treated people as if they were merely sources of money. Nozick here challenges John Rawls's arguments in A Theory of Justice that conclude that just inequalities in distribution must benefit the least well off. Nozick backed away from some of the views he expressed in Anarchy, State, and Utopia in one of his later books, The Examined Life, calling those views "seriously inadequate." In a 2001 interview, however, he clarified his position: "What I was really saying in The Examined Life was that I was no longer as hardcore a libertarian as I had been before. But the rumors of my deviation (or apostasy!) from libertarianism were much exaggerated." [1] Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a work of political philosophy written by Robert Nozick in 1974. ... The National Book Awards is one of the most preeminent literary prizes in the United States. ... Kant redirects here. ... 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, Justice as Fairness: A Restatement, and The Law of Peoples. ... A Theory of Justice is a book of political and moral philosophy by John Rawls. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the year. ... Apostasy (from Greek αποστασία, meaning a defection or revolt, from απο, apo, away, apart, στασις, stasis, standing) is a term generally employed to describe the formal renunciation of ones religion, especially if the motive is deemed unworthy. ...

Epistemology

In Philosophical Explanations (1981), which received the Phi Beta Kappa Society's Waldo Emerson Award, Nozick provides novel accounts of knowledge, free will, personal identity, the nature of value, and the meaning of life. He also put forward an epistemological system which attempted to deal with both Edmund Gettier-style problems and those posed by skepticism. This highly influential argument eschewed justification as a necessary requirement for knowledge. Philosophical Explanations is a wide-ranging metaphysical and ethical treatise written by Robert Nozick and published in 1981. ... AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see Knowledge (disambiguation). ... Free-Will is a Japanese independent record label founded in 1986. ... In philosophy, the issue of personal identity concerns many numbers of loosely related issues, in particular persistence, change, time, and sameness. ... Value redirects here. ...

The examined life

The Examined Life (1989), pitched to a broader public, explores love, death, faith, reality, and the meaning of life. The Nature of Rationality (1993) presents a theory of practical reason that attempts to embellish notoriously spartan classical decision theory. Socratic Puzzles (1997) is a collection of papers that range in topic from Ayn Rand and Austrian economics to animal rights, while his last production, Invariances (2001) applies insights from physics and biology to questions of objectivity in such areas as the nature of necessity and moral value. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... The Nature of Rationality is an exploration of practical rationality written by Robert Nozick and published in 1993. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... -- Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut In philosophy, practical reason is the application of reason to real-world decision-making (ie. ... Decision theory is an area of study of discrete mathematics that models human decision-making in science, engineering and indeed all human social activities. ... Socratic Puzzles is a collection of essays by Robert Nozick. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Ayn Rand (IPA: , February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982), born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum (Russian: ), was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher. ... The Austrian School is a school of economic thought which rejects opposing economists reliance on methods used in natural science for the study of human action, and instead bases its formalism of economics on relationships through logic or introspection called praxeology. ... A man holds a monkey with a limb missing by a rope around her neck, a scene epitomizing the idea of animal ownership. ... Invariances, published in 2001 by Harvard University Press, was Robert Nozicks last book before his death in 2002. ... This article is about the year. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... For the song by Girls Aloud see Biology (song) Biology studies the variety of life (clockwise from top-left) E. coli, tree fern, gazelle, Goliath beetle Biology (from Greek: Βιολογία - βίος, bio, life; and λόγος, logos, speech lit. ... For other uses of objectivity, see objectivity (disambiguation). ... This article is about the law definition of necessity. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

Criticisms of Utilitarianism

He created the thought experiment of the Utility monster in order to show that average utilitarianism could lead to a situation where the needs of the vast majority were sacrificed for one individual. The utility monster is a thought experiment in the study of ethics. ...

Unusual Method

Nozick was notable for his curious, exploratory style and methodological ecumenism. Often content to raise tantalizing philosophical possibilities and then leave judgment to the reader, Nozick was also notable for inventively drawing from literature outside of philosophy (e.g., economics, physics, evolutionary biology) to infuse his work with freshness and relevance. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Ecumenism (also oecumenism, Å“cumenism) refers to initiatives aimed at greater religious unity or cooperation. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Writings

• Invariances: The Structure of the Objective World (2001/2003) ISBN 0-674-01245-3
• Socratic Puzzles (1997) ISBN 0-674-81653-6
• The Nature of Rationality (1993/1995) ISBN 0-691-02096-5
• The Examined Life (1989) ISBN 0-671-72501-7
• Philosophical Explanations (1981) ISBN 0-19-824672-2
• Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974/2001) ISBN 0-631-19780-X

Invariances, published in 2001 by Harvard University Press, was Robert Nozicks last book before his death in 2002. ... This article is about the year. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Socratic Puzzles is a collection of essays by Robert Nozick. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... The Nature of Rationality is an exploration of practical rationality written by Robert Nozick and published in 1993. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Philosophical Explanations is a wide-ranging metaphysical and ethical treatise written by Robert Nozick and published in 1981. ... AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a work of political philosophy written by Robert Nozick in 1974. ... Year 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

See also

• Liberalism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Libertarianism
• Minarchism

Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... Contributions to liberal theory is a partial list of individual contributions on a worldwide scale. ... This article is about the political philosophy based on private property rights. ... In civics, minarchism, sometimes called minimal statism or small government, is the view that the size, role and influence of government in a free society should be minimal — only large enough to protect the liberty and property of each individual. ...

References

• G.A. Cohen (1995), Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality, Oxford UP. A widely-cited criticism of Nozick.
• Robinson, Dave & Groves, Judy (2003). Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X.
• Wolff, Jonathan (1991), Robert Nozick: Property, Justice, and the Minimal State. Polity Press.

Gerald Allen Cohen, (born 1941) is the Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All Souls College, Oxford. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Robert Nozick

• Obituary by The Daily Telegraph
• Obituary by The Guardian
• Obituary by The Independent
• Philosopher Nozick dies at 63 From the Harvard Gazette
• Robert Nozick Memorial minute
• Robert Nozick (1938-2002) by Edward Feser
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• Open Directory Project - Robert Nozick directory category
• Robert Nozick, Philosopher of Liberty by Roderick T. Long