70 pages • 2 hours read
Robert NozickAnarchy, State and Utopia
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1974A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Robert Nozick
Nozick was born in 1938 in New York and lived until 2002. He became a famous political philosopher after the publication of Anarchy, State, and Utopia in 1974. He is recognized for his defense of individual rights and his influential argument for the minimal state. Nozick studied at Columbia University and Princeton University, where he obtained his PhD. His time in these institutions, coupled with the vibrant intellectual debates of the 1960s and 1970s, shaped his philosophical perspectives. Although he was a proponent of socialism early in his philosophical career, he came to rethink his position due to the influence of economists Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and others.
Nozick was a professor at Harvard University, where he continued to develop and share his libertarian thought. Anarchy, State, and Utopia was his first book, and it was awarded the National Book Award in 1975. The book’s exploratory style has left a lasting mark on the field, making Nozick’s insights and arguments a continual point of reference in philosophical and political discussions. Nozick’s work continues to be influential for libertarian thought and the broader discourse on political philosophy, particularly regarding the nature of justice, state functions, individual rights, and the concept of utopia.
John Locke
Locke was a 17th-century English philosopher and remains one of the most influential thinkers in areas such as liberalism and empiricism. Locke’s most well-known work, titled Two Treatises of Government, centers around the concepts of natural rights, government with consent, and the right of rebellion against unjust authority. He argued that individuals possess inherent rights to life, freedom, and property, which any rightful government must respect and protect. This foundation of natural rights is crucial in Locke’s social contract theory, according to which the state’s authority is derived from the consent of the governed, formed to protect these fundamental rights.
In Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Nozick draws on Locke’s ideas to build his own libertarian theory. Nozick’s argument for a minimal state, which focuses on the protection of individual rights and rejects state-run distributive systems, echoes Locke’s views on the recognition of rights, freedom, and property. Locke’s influence on Nozick extends beyond specific political concepts to a shared philosophical methodology. Both philosophers start from a state-of-nature scenario to develop their political theories, though their conclusions diverge in various ways. Namely, Locke’s state of nature leads to a social contract that establishes a government with broader powers than Nozick’s minimal state. Locke’s work remains highly influential in the study of liberal democracy and property rights. Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia is part of a long intellectual tradition tracing back to Locke, reinterpreting and applying traditional thought about rights and the nature of state and government to a modern context.
John Rawls
Rawls (1921-2002) was an American philosopher and Robert Nozick’s colleague at Harvard University. He is most renowned for his book A Theory of Justice (1971). Rawls’s defense of liberalism proved highly influential in moral and political philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He is most famous for his idea of justice as fairness, which defends the distribution of resources in a way that benefits the poorest in society.
Rawls’s significance for Nozick stems from the contrast between their philosophical positions, especially regarding the nature and role of the state, individual rights, and distributive justice. Anarchy, State, and Utopia is often presented as a direct response to Rawls’s theories. While Rawls argues for a theory of justice that justifies a more extensive state role in redistributing wealth and resources to achieve fairness, Nozick advocates for a minimal state that is limited to the protection of individual rights. In the political philosophy field, the two philosophers are often contrasted in everything, including style. Whereas Rawls uses a systematic style of argumentation, Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia abounds in intuitive exploration, speculation, and digressions.
