A Nozickutonomy and Compensation

About the book

Famously and notoriously, Robert Nozick argues against the welfare state in Anarchy, State and Utopia. While many academics have severely criticized Nozick s notion of a minimal state, neo-conservatives and many ordinary citizens remain convinced by his arguments for limited

government. Much has been made of Nozick s critique of the welfare state, yet few philosophers have examined his views on compensation and a meaningful life. Following a brief review of different notions of rights and freedoms, Dale Murray closely examines what Nozick means by compensation, and what injustices that he thinks it can rectify. He then offers a novel reconstruction of Nozick s libertarianism in the light of this analysis - as a possible approach for more positive rights. The book also explores Nozick s unique understanding of risk and his assessment of how we can calculate it. Using health care as a test case, Murray argues that since government-funded projects have tended to worsen people s health, the state should compensate individuals for their ill health. This compensation should come in the form of providing a minimal amount of health care to its citizens. Such welfare rights, however, are not as strong as some universal health care advocates would expect. Here, Murray brings a Nozickian focus to the rationing of care to the elderly. The elderly have the most tenuous claim to a right to health care since autonomy arguments for welfare rights are the hardest to make for them.