Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol

The last two subsections of Chapter 6 (pp. 137-146) contain an extended digression on the problem of punishment and the possibility of “anti-punishment” (my term) via preventive detention in “resort detention centers”, one of my favorite Nozickian thought experiments thus … Continue reading →

Unwittingly, Nozick contradicts himself and refutes his own theory of the state in the fourth subsection of Chapter 6 (pp. 133-137)! Recall Nozick’s previous claims from Chapter 5 of  Anarchy, State, and Utopia. In case your memory needs some refreshing, … Continue reading →

Nozick poses two additional questions in the third subsection of Chapter 6 (pp. 130-133). First, he asks whether individuals in a state of nature might agree with each other or unilaterally decide to refrain from creating or joining a protection … Continue reading →

The second subsection of Chapter 6 (pp. 126-130) anticipates the worldwide controversy over President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s ill-fated decision to invade Iraq in 2003, which in hindsight, turned out to be one of the worst … Continue reading →

We almost considered skipping Chapter 6 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia, since Nozick himself invites his readers to do so on p. 120: “The reader who wishes to pursue the main flow of our argument may proceed directly to the … Continue reading →

Before we resume our review of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU), let’s take a snapshot of the overall structure and organization of Chapter 6 of ASU, the last chapter of the first part of the book. This chapter is titled … Continue reading →

In addition to my in-depth page-by-page review of the first five chapters of Anarchy, State, and Utopia, I have been working on two other projects this fall. First, I wrote up a short paper titled “The Case for Bayesian Voting” … Continue reading →

In addition to the first five chapters of Robert Nozick’s classic book “Anarchy, State, and Utopia“, we read, tried to read, or began reading the following few books over the holidays: 1. Karl Sigmund, “Exact Thinking in Demented Times: The … Continue reading →

Let’s keep this party going! We will resume our review of Nozick on Monday or Tuesday.

It’s time to wrap up our review of Chapter 5 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU). The last two subsections of Chapter 5 (pp. 113-119) are philosophical garbage disappointing. Why? Because Nozick concludes with two Panglossian claims, and neither rosy … Continue reading →