Before we begin our review of Chapter 4 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU), let’s take a closer look at the overall structure and organization of this chapter. In summary, Chapter 4 is titled “Prohibition, Compensation, and Risk” and is divided into ten separate (and for the most part, short) subsections as follows:

• Independents and the Dominant Protective Agency (pp. 54-56)
• Prohibition and Compensation (pp. 57-58)
• Why Ever Prohibit? (pp. 58-59)
• Retributive and Deterrent Theories of Punishment (pp. 59-63)
• Dividing the Benefits of Exchange (pp. 63-65)
• Fear and Prohibition (pp. 65-71)
• Why Not Always Prohibit? (pp. 71-73)
• Risk (pp. 73-78)
• The Principle of Compensation (pp. 78-84)
• Productive Exchange (pp. 84-87)

For our part, we will continue to subject all of Nozick’s arguments, claims, and propositions to careful examination. Rest assured, however, in the spirit of the quotation pictured below, that our aim is not prove Nozick wrong. (In any case, the notion of “proof” in the realm of moral and political philosophy is dubious at best.) Instead, our aim is to figure out which of Nozick’s points are the most and least persuasive …