The Cambridge Companion to Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia

by Ralf M. Bader (Editor), John Meadowcroft (Editor)

Overview

Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) is recognised as a classic of modern political philosophy. Along with John Rawls's A Theory of Justice (1971), it is widely credited with breathing new life into the discipline in the second half of the twentieth century. This Companion presents a balanced and comprehensive assessment of Nozick's contribution to political philosophy. In engaging and accessible chapters, the contributors analyse Nozick's ideas from a variety of perspectives and explore neglected areas of the work such as his discussion of anarchism and his theory of utopia. Their detailed and illuminating picture of Anarchy, State, and Utopia, its impact and its enduring influence will be invaluable to students and scholars in both political philosophy and political theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521197762
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2011
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Philosophy
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Ralf M. Bader is a Bersoff Assistant Professor and Faculty Fellow in the Philosophy Department at New York University. He is the author of Robert Nozick (2010).

John Meadowcroft is Lecturer in Public Policy in the Department of Political Economy, King's College London. He is the author of The Ethics of the Market (2005), James M. Buchanan (2011) and (with Mark Pennington) Rescuing Social Capital from Social Democracy (2007).

Table of Contents

Introduction Ralf M. Bader and John Meadowcroft; Part I. Morality: 1. Side constraints, Lockean individual rights, and the moral basis of libertarianism Richard Arneson; 2. Are deontological constraints irrational? Michael Otsuka; 3. What we learn from the experience machine Fred Feldman; Part II. Anarchy: 4. Nozickian arguments for the more-than-minimal state Eric Mack; 5. Explanation, justification, and emergent properties - an essay on Nozickian metatheory Gerald Gaus; Part III. State: 6. The right to distribute David Schmidtz; 7. Nozick's libertarian theory of justice Peter Vallentyne; 8. Does Nozick have a theory of property rights? Barbara Fried; 9. Nozick's critique of Rawls John Meadowcroft; Part IV. Utopia: 10. The framework for utopia Ralf M. Bader; 11. E Pluribus Plurum - how to fail to get to utopia in spite of really trying Chandran Kukathas.