An Appraisal of Robert Nozick’s Conception of Justice

There has been a revival of interest, among philosophers, in the area of justice (especially the justice of the social structure) since the early 1970's. Robert Nozick, an American philosopher and a frontline libertarian, envisages free market capitalism, a minimal state and non-redistribution of resources, as necessary conditions for an adequate theory of justice. He defends his
position in his book: Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1 974). However, ever since the publication of this work, there has been upsurge of criticisms against his thought. Unfortunately, many of these critics have confused Nozick's libertarianism with his theory of distributive justice, thereby giving a faulty interpretation of what Nozick says about justice.