Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol

Nozick devotes the first subsection of Chapter 9 (pp. 277-279) to analogical reasoning and to what I like to call “the mental contamination problem.” According to Nozick, one of the problems with reasoning by analogy is our inability to keep … Continue reading →

Chapter 9 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU), the penultimate chapter of this classic book, is titled “Demoktesis.” Spoiler alert: according to Wikipedia, demoktesis is a thought-experiment designed to show the incompatibility of democracy (one-man, one-vote) with libertarian theory and … Continue reading →

During a bout of insomnia, we discovered a new genre of literature and storytelling called micro flash fiction. (Hat tip: @ESYudkowsky.) Below is a sample:

Nozick devotes the last three subsections of Chapter 8 (pp. 268-275) to two interwoven tasks: (1) reiterating his conception of a minimal state, and (2) responding to various justifications made in favor of a more extensive state. Recall that, for … Continue reading →

Nozick begins the eighth section of Chapter 8 of ASU (pp. 265-268) by making a strong case in favor of compulsory redistribution! (Yes, you heard that right. Again, I will summarize Nozick’s argument in my own words.) Let’s assume that … Continue reading →

Nozick takes a short detour in the seventh section of Chapter 8 of ASU (pp. 262-265), where he makes a conjecture about the structure of rights to engage in relationships with others. At one point, Nozick states (p. 264): “Rights … Continue reading →

Nozick accomplishes two tasks in the sixth subsection of Chapter 8 (pp. 253-262). First, he explains why so few business firms are owned or run by workers. But more importantly, he single-handedly demolishes Marxian economic theory. As usual, I will … Continue reading →

Nozick poses a pair of related questions in the next two subsections of Chapter 8 of ASU (pp. 246-253) regarding the organization of business firms. One question is, How could we incentivize business firm to provide more opportunities for meaningful … Continue reading →

We interrupt our review of Chapter 8 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia to share this fun tweet with our loyal readers. (For my part, I was 11 months old at the time, so I was probably asleep during that historic … Continue reading →

Nozick explores a number of intriguing questions in the third subsection of Chapter 8 of ASU (pp. 239-246). Why do people feel envy? What is the source of this emotion? And what is the best way of reducing the incidence … Continue reading →