![]() A large portion of Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, The State and Utopia is dedicated to refuting the theories of John Rawls. 23, 2002, Cambridge, Mass. Specifically, Nozick takes issue with Rawls’ conception of distributive justice as it pertains to economic inequalities. Nozick is an advocate for eighteenth century individualism and nineteenth century capitalism. Rawls wrote that economic inequalities should only be permitted if they are to the benefit of society, and especially if they are to the benefit of its least advantaged members this has come to be known as “the difference principle”. Robert Nozick initiated one of the most inspired and inspiring discussions in political philosophy with his 1974 response in Anarchy, State, and Utopia to John Rawls’s 1971 account of distributive justice in A Theory of Justice. The American political philosopher Robert Nozick, a libertarian liberal, best known for his first book Anarchy State and Utopia published in 1974 1. Nozick believed that no one had any business “permitting” economic inequalities at all. Nozicks early reputation rested on Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), an uncompromising rejection of more than minimal state action. To Nozick, as long as economic inequalities arise from voluntary exchange, they cannot be unjust. In chapter 7 of Nozick’s book, he gives an example of a world where Wilt Chamberlain becomes very rich through voluntary exchange (Nozick 160-162). ![]() The purpose of the example is to demonstrate how we can not govern economic inequality in the way that Rawls would apparently suggest without sacrificing a large amount of liberty. Mostly these depictions are based upon three postulates: That Nozick is an extreme individualist, that the libertarian Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) is. Much focus has been given to the enormous degree to which these two views apparently differ, but I believe that a closer examination of the Wilt Chamberlain argument shows that the two philosophers differed less in their concept of justice and goodness than is usually perceived. ![]()
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