nozick Flashcards
strand
the new right
nozick an American philopsher and academic merged as a singificant intellectual figure in the development of the new right through his strong defence of
libertarian principles
he is best known for his 19774 book ‘ anarchy state and utopia ‘ which provided a philosophical argument against
John Rawls theory of distributive justice and advocated for libertarianism instead
nozick supported libertarianism which built upon Kants principle that
individuals should never be treated merely as means to an end but always as ends in themselves
in ‘ anarchy state and utopia ‘ nozick argued that respecting individual right is the core obligation of society and any action that
coerces indviduals to serve collective purposes violates this principle
this led to him champion laissez faire capitalism and a minimal state that was limited to the
narrow functions of protecting individuals fro force theft and fraud and enforcing contracts
he wrote
” the minimal state is the most extensive state that can be justified . any state more extensive violates peoples right “
this support fro limited state intervention was therefore driven by belief in
freedom and individual autonomy rather than pragmatism
he argued that any state action beyond these functions such as redistributive taxation for social welfare purposes is unjust because
it infringes on individuals rights to their own lives and property
in ‘ anarchy state and utopia ‘ he wrote
” taxation of earnings from labour is on par with forced labour “
nozicks support for the idea of self ownership assets that individuals have
sovereignty over their bodies and the fruits of their labour
as a result individuals should be free to choose how they use their abilities and resources without
coercive interference from the state
he argued that this was a fundamental principle of justice forming the basis of all individual rights he argued that since indvudiuals own themselves they
inherently own the labour they produce and by extension the property they acquire through that labour
this underlines the new rights opposition to redistributive policies as such actions are seen as
infringements on personal liberty and property right
according to notice , respecting self ownership means that any exchange or transfer of property must be voluntary based on free consent and any coercion or redistribution by the state fundamentally
infringes upon this basic human human right
