Anarchy, State, and Utopia

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Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU) is a 1974 book by the American philosopher Robert Nozick. A work of analytic philosophy in the libertarian capitalist tradition, it popularised and developed the concepts of the night-watchman state, entitlement theory of property, and Lockean proviso, employing original thought experiments, such as the utility monster, experience machine, Wilt Chamberlain argument, and demoktesis, an experiment with the aim of demonstrating a progressive loss in self-ownership in democratic government. In opposition to A Theory of Justice (1971) by John Rawls, and in debate with Michael Walzer, 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". As a work of analytic philosophy, the work offers an original interpretation and synthesis of the Lockean state of nature, Immanuel Kant's theory of persons being and in themselves, and economic research in game theory and welfare...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Robert Nozick, Public domain