Anarchy, State and Utopia: Nozick

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Anarchy, State and Utopia Nozick

• October 23, 2006

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Night-watchman State

• Ultraminimal State
• Protection for those who buy???
• Minimal State
• Protect citizens against violence, coercion and
  fraud
• Enforcement of contracts

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Entitlement Theory(151)

• A person who acquires a holding in accordance
  with the principle of justice in acquisition is
  entitled to that holding.
• A person who acquires a holding in accordance
  with the principle of just transfer, from someone
  else is entitled to the holding.
• No one is entitled to a holding except by
  (repeated) applications of 1 and 2.
• Nozick does recognize that at times holding are
  not acquired justly. As a consequence, he does
  address how to rectify injustices.

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Entitlement Theory

• Historical
• How things came to be the way they are is key.
• Past actions can lead to differences in
  entitlements
• Entitled to X then
• Current time slice principles or End-state
  principles ?

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End-state principles Patterning

• Moral merit no person should have a greater
  share than anyone whose moral merit is greater.
  (156)
• Intellectual merit Distribute according to
  I.Q. (156)
• Need based To each according to his/her need
• Rawls end-state principles

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Perceived value vs moral merit

• To each according to how much he benefits others
  who have the resources for benefiting those who
  benefits them.
• From each as they choose, to each as they are
  chosen.
• Wilt Chamberlain example

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Cooperation Reasonable Terms

• Look better-endowed you gain by cooperating
  with us. If you want our cooperation youll have
  to accept reasonable terms. We suggest these
  terms Well cooperate only if we get as much as
  possible.
• Look worse-endowed you gain by cooperating with
  us. If you want our cooperation youll have to
  accept reasonable terms. We suggest these terms
  Well cooperate only if we get as much as
  possible.

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Rawls End-state principles

• Original positions ? end-state principles
• The nature of the decision problem facing
  persons deciding upon principles in an original
  position behind a veil of ignorance limits them
  to end-state principles of distribution. (201)
• Nozick maintains that entitlement theory is never
  in play.
• Imperfect procedural justice
• Perfect procedural justice
• Pure procedural justice

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Students Exams and Grades

• Entitlement
• Grades should depend on how a qualified and
  impartial observer decides
• Grades depend on developed intelligence, how hard
  people worked, accident
• General principles ? distribution of grades
• Maximize lowest grades
• Assign probability of distributions then

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The Road to Serfdom

• Socialism VS Democracy
• Democracy extends the sphere of individual
  freedomsocialism restricts it. Democracy
  attaches all possible value to man socialism
  makes each man a mere agent, a mere number.
  Democracy and socialism have nothing in common
  but one word equality. But notice the
  difference while democracy seeks equality in
  liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint
  and servitude. (Hayek quoting De Tocqueville, 29)

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Freedom

• Hayek
• From coercion
• From arbitrary power
• Socialism
• From necessity
• From compulsion of necessity

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Collectivism and Socialism

• socialism is a species of collectivism an that
  therefore everything which is true of
  collectivism as such must apply also to
  socialism. (39)

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Socialism

• Ideals
• Social justice
• Greater equality
• security
• BUT method leads to the opposite of liberty
• Abolition of private enterprise
• Abolition of private ownership of means of
  production
• Requires a Planned Economy with a central
  planning body

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Dispute To plan or not to

• Coercive power should be used to create
  conditions under which the knowledge and
  initiative of individuals are given the best
  scope so that they can plan most successfully
  (40)
• Rational utilization of resources requires a
  central direction and organization of all our
  activities according to some consciously
  constructed blueprint. (41)