Robert Nozick

Question 1

Background/Book

Answer 1

• His key work ‘Anarchy, state and utopia’ (1974), remains a vital reference for modern conservative philosphy

Question 2

HN

Answer 2

• Egotistical. Individuals are driven by a quest of ‘self ownership’ allowing them to realise their full potential
• Individuals should be regarded ‘always as an end and never as a means only’. This echoed Mill’s liberalism and the notion of the sovereignty of the individual. Individuals, they both believed, were always a better judge of their own interests than the state

Question 3

Society

Answer 3

Society should be geared to self-fulfilment, leading to many small variable communities that reflect the diverse tastes and philosophies of members.

Question 4

The state

Answer 4

• Minarchist state should outsource, renew and reallocate contracts to private companies providing public services.
• Nozick advocated a minimal or ‘night watchman’ state that would confine itself to law enforcement to protect individuals from crime and violence. Nozick’s notion of self-ownership opposed any attempt of the state to regulate individual choice in terms of consumption and anything affecting their own bodies

Question 5

Economy

Answer 5

• Minarchist state should detach from a privatised and deregulated economy, merely arbitrating between private economic management.
• Taxation (‘legalised theft’) was a form of state coercion, implied forced labouror ‘slavery’ and regarded individuals as a resource at the disposal of the state –all of which defied the principle of indivdual self ownership