Robert Nozick
An American philosopher whose 'Anarchy, State, and Utopia' provided a powerful defense of libertarianism, arguing for a minimal state and individual rights.
Quotes by Robert Nozick
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by the private sector.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by voluntary associations.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by individuals.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by the market.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by competition.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by choice.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by freedom.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by liberty.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by individual rights.
The state should not have a monopoly on anything that can be provided by voluntary cooperation.
Individuals have rights, and there are things no person or group may do to them (without violating their rights). So strong and far-reaching are these rights that they raise the question of what, if anything, the state and its officials may do. How much room do individual rights leave for the state?
The minimal state treats us as inviolate ends in ourselves, not as means to other ends.
There is no social entity with a good that outweighs any individual's good, including my own.
The entitlement theory of justice in holdings is historical.
From each according to his natural abilities, to each according to his natural abilities.
Liberty and moral desert are jointly insufficient to specify a principle of distributive justice.
The state may not use its coercive powers to impose a vision of the good life on its citizens.
Philosophical argument, even when it is sound, is not the only way to reach philosophical conclusions.
Why be rational? There is a reason, one having to do with the formation of our identity.
We are not, intuitively, utilitarians; we do not just add up the utilities.