E pluribus plurum, or, how to fail to back into a state in spite of really trying

“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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: KUKATHAS, Chandran
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2011
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2988
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4245/viewcontent/e_pluribus_plurum_or_how_to_fail_to_get_to_utopia_in_spite_of_really_trying__1_.pdf
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Institution: Singapore Management University
Language: English
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Summary:“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.