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Single Idea 18642

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 2. Anarchism ]

Full Idea

Individuals have rights, and there are things no person or group may do to them (without violating their rights). So strong and far-reaching are these rights that they raise the question of what, if anything, the state and its officials may do.

Gist of Idea

Individual rights are so strong that the state and its officials must be very limited in power

Source

Robert Nozick (Anarchy,State, and Utopia [1974], Pref)

Book Ref

Nozick,Robert: 'Anarchy,State, and Utopia' [Blackwell 1980], p.-8

A Reaction

This claim appears to be an axiom, but I'm not sure that the notion of 'rights' make any sense unless someone is granting the rights, where the someone is either a strong individual, or the community (perhaps represented by the state).

The 14 ideas from 'Anarchy,State, and Utopia'

18641 If people hold things legitimately, just distribution is simply the result of free exchanges [Nozick, by Kymlicka]
20539 Property is legitimate by initial acquisition, voluntary transfer, or rectification of injustice [Nozick, by Swift]
18645 Nozick assumes initial holdings include property rights, but we can challenge that [Kymlicka on Nozick]
18646 How did the private property get started? If violence was involved, we can redistribute it [Kymlicka on Nozick]
18647 If property is only initially acquired by denying the rights of others, Nozick can't get started [Kymlicka on Nozick]
18648 Freedom to live according to our own conception of the good is the ultimate value [Nozick, by Kymlicka]
18643 A minimal state should protect, but a state forcing us to do more is unjustified [Nozick]
18642 Individual rights are so strong that the state and its officials must be very limited in power [Nozick]
18644 States can't enforce mutual aid on citizens, or interfere for their own good [Nozick]
20585 If an experience machine gives you any experience you want, should you hook up for life? [Nozick]
20521 Can I come to own the sea, by mixing my private tomato juice with it? [Nozick]
21737 Unowned things may be permanently acquired, if it doesn't worsen the position of other people [Nozick]
21738 Maybe land was originally collectively owned, rather than unowned? [Cohen,GA on Nozick]
22661 My Anarchy, State and Utopia neglected our formal social ties and concerns [Nozick on Nozick]