Author(s): Robert Nozick

Philosophy and Religion

Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a powerful,philosophical challenge to the most widely held political andsocial positions of our age -- liberal, socialist andconservative. "Individuals have rights," Nozick writes in his openingsentence, "and there are things no person or group may do to themwithout violating their rights." The work that follows is asophisticated and passionate defence of the rights of theindividual as opposed to the state. The author argues that the state is justified only when it isseverely limited to the narrow function of protection againstforce, theft and fraud and to the enforcement of contracts. Anymore extensive activities by the state, he demonstrates, willinevitably violate individual rights. Among the many achievements of the work are an important newtheory of distributive justice, a model of utopia, and anintegration of ethics, legal philosophy and economic theory into aprofound position in political philosophy which will be discussedfor years to come.