Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Anarchy, State, and Utopia
	Cover of the first edition
Author	Robert Nozick
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Distributive justice
Publisher	Basic Books
Publication date	1974
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	334
ISBN	978-0465097203
Dewey Decimal	320.1/01
LC Class	JC571 .N68

Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a 1974 book by the American political philosopher Robert Nozick. It won the 1975 US National Book Award in category Philosophy and Religion,^[1] has been translated into 11 languages, and was named one of the "100 most influential books since the war" (1945–1995) by the UK Times Literary Supplement.^[2]

In opposition to A Theory of Justice (1971) by John Rawls, and in debate with Michael Walzer,^[3] Nozick argues in favor of a minimal state, "limited to the narrow functions of protection against force, theft, fraud, enforcement of contracts, and so on."^[4] When a state takes on more responsibilities than these, Nozick argues, rights will be violated. To support the idea of the minimal state, Nozick presents an argument that illustrates how the minimalist state arises naturally from a Lockean state of nature and how any expansion of state power past this minimalist threshold is unjustified.

^ "The National Book Awards – 1975". National Book Foundation. 2007. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
^ "The Hundred Most Influential Books Since the War". Times Literary Supplement. October 6, 1995. Archived from the original on 4 December 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
^ The United States in the World – Just Wars and Just Societies: An Interview with Michael Walzer Archived 2007-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, in Imprints, Volume 7, Number 1, 2003
^ Maloberti, Nicolás (2010). "The Squirrel and the State". The Independent Review. 14 (3): 377–387. JSTOR 24562879. Gale A214894143 ProQuest 751428217.

[NatBookFound-1] "The National Book Awards – 1975". National Book Foundation. 2007. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 9 January 2012.

[TimesLiterarySupp-2] "The Hundred Most Influential Books Since the War". Times Literary Supplement. October 6, 1995. Archived from the original on 4 December 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2011.

[imprints-3] The United States in the World – Just Wars and Just Societies: An Interview with Michael Walzer Archived 2007-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, in Imprints, Volume 7, Number 1, 2003

[4] Maloberti, Nicolás (2010). "The Squirrel and the State". The Independent Review. 14 (3): 377–387. JSTOR 24562879. Gale A214894143 ProQuest 751428217.

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