Of these works, Nozick's exploration ranges widest and is the most arduous.įor the most part Nozick explores the overlapping realms marked by the terms 'natural rights theory' and 'state of nature theory.' That Nozick's investigations are primarily within these realms may be a source of disappointment to some readers. Hayek's Law, Legislation, and Liberty, and most recently, Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia.

These are David Friedman's The Machinery of Freedom (in particular, Part III), the first volume of F.A. It is one of the most encouraging signs of the times-the most encouraging for those who like myself look at the world through ivory-colored glasses-that we have recently witnessed the publication of three works which expand the known world of libertarian theory. But in either case the voyage opens up new intellectual territory. The mappings which such an exploration yields may be highly accurate or in need of radical revision. Such projects are explorations, intellectual voyages which reveal previously unchartered ideas, arguments, and theses. Robert Nozick describes his Anarchy, State and Utopia as, 'a philosophical exploration of issues, many fascinating in their own right, which arise and interconnect when we consider individual rights and the state.' Such explorations are to be contrasted with political tracts-but what makes the difference? Is a philosophical exploration merely what gets written when an aspiring author is too uncertain about his views to write a tract or manifesto? No, there is more to be said about philosophical explorations than this.

Anarchy, State and Utopia, by Robert Nozick, New York: Basic Books, 1974, 367 pp., $12.95.

State utopia anarchy