Publication Type
Book Chapter
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
1-2011
Abstract
“The framework for utopia,” Robert Nozick tells us at the beginning of the fi nal section of Part iiiof Anarchy, State, and Utopia( ASU), “is equivalent to the minimal state” (p. 333). The rich andcomplex body of argumentation of Parts iand iihad produced theconclusion that the minimal, and no more than a minimal, statewas legitimate or morally justifi ed. What Part iiireveals is that theminimal state “is the one that best realizes the utopian aspirationsof untold dreamers and visionaries” (p. 333). Although this happyconvergence is surely no accident, neither, Nozick insists, is it contrived, for it is the conclusion reached by two independent lines ofargument. If there is a framework for utopia – or, as I shall from nowsimply say, utopia – it is the minimal state.
Discipline
Ethics and Political Philosophy | International Relations
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
The Cambridge companion to Nozick's anarchy, state and utopia
Editor
MEADOWCROFT, John; BADER, Ralph
First Page
289
Last Page
302
ISBN
9780521197762
Identifier
10.1017/CCOL9780521197762.016
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Citation
KUKATHAS, Chandran. (2011). E pluribus plurum, or, how to fail to back into a state in spite of really trying. In The Cambridge companion to Nozick's anarchy, state and utopia (pp. 289-302). : Cambridge University Press.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2988
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