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For most of Chapter 4, Nozick has been wondering why all wrongful acts are not allowed so long as compensation is paid. Here, in the sixth subsection of this chapter (pp. 65-71), Nozick presents (to his mind) his strongest argument … Continue reading →

The fifth subsection of Chapter 4 (pp. 63-65) returns to the first of Nozick’s two theoretical questions (p. 63): “why not allow any boundary crossings provided full compensation is paid?” (Nozick will revisit his second question, “why not prohibit?”, later … Continue reading →

We are now ready to resume our review of Anarchy, State, and Utopia. The fourth subsection of Chapter 4 (pp. 59-63) contains an extended digression into retributive and deterrence theories of punishment. Nozick takes a probabilistic approach to punishment (pp. … Continue reading →

Time out! We need to attend to some other time-consuming (and time-sensitive) matters this weekend, so before we proceed with our review of Chapter 4 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia, we wish to pose some additional questions regarding Nozick’s major … Continue reading →

Below is a small sample of everyday objects arranged into beautiful patterns. You can check out the rest of artist Adam Hillman’s work here (hat tip: kottke.)

Before we press on with our review of Nozick’s masterpiece Anarchy, State, and Utopia (ASU), we want to say a few words on why Nozick is worth reading and why we are so excited about Nozick’s ideas, especially Chapter 4 … Continue reading →

The third subsection of Chapter 4 of Anarchy, State, and Utopia (pp. 58-59) narrows down and reformulates the problem of enforcing moral boundaries in terms of two hard questions (p. 59): (i) why not allow or permit boundary crossings so … Continue reading →

The second subsection of Chapter 4 is only two pages long (pp. 57-58), but it deserves our careful attention for several reasons: (i) One reason is Nozick’s geometric visualization of morality. As Nozick puts it (p. 57): “an area in … Continue reading →

Nozick (pictured below) presents an important theoretical problem in the first subsection of Chapter 4: the problem of independents, or how should a private protection racket deal with non-members? Additionally, Nozick raises a further theoretical problem in a footnote (p. … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →