Nozick develops new views on philosophy’s central topics and weaves them into a unified perspective. He ranges widely over philosophy’s fundamental concerns: the identity of the self, knowledge and skepticism, free will, the question of why there is something rather than nothing, the foundations of ethics, the meaning of life.

Winner of the 1975 National Book Award, this brilliant and widely acclaimed book is a powerful philosophical challenge to the most widely held political and social positions of our age--liberal, socialist, and conservative.

An exploration of topics of everyday importance in the Socratic tradition.

Casting cultural controversies in a whole new light, an eminent philosopher presents bold, new theories that take into account scientific advances in physics, evolutionary biology, economics, and cognitive neurosience.

The award-winning author of Anarchy, State, and Utopia continues his search for the connections between philosophy and "ordinary" experience and shows how principles function in our day-to-day thinking and in our efforts to live peacefully and productively with each other.

One of the foremost philosophers of our time, Robert Nozick continues the Socratic tradition of investigation. This volume, which illustrates the originality, force, and scope of his work, also displays Nozick's trademark blending of extraordinary analytical rigor with intellectual playfulness. As such, Socratic Puzzles testifies to the great pleasure that both doing and reading philosophy can be. Comprising essays and philosophical fictions, classics and new work, the book ranges from Socrates to W. V. Quine, from the implications of an Israeli kibbutz to the flawed arguments of Ayn Rand. Nozick considers the figure of Socrates himself as well as the Socratic method (why is it a "method" of getting at the truth?). Many of these essays bring classic methods to bear on new questions about choice. How should you choose in a disconcerting situation ("Newcomb's Problem") when your decisions are completely predictable? Why do threats and not offers typically coerce our choices? How do we make moral judgments when we realize that our moral principles have exceptions? Other essays present new approaches to familiar intellectual puzzles, from the stress on simplicity in scientific hypotheses to the tendency of intellectuals to oppose capitalism. As up to date as the latest reflections on animal rights; as perennial as the essentials of aesthetic merit (doggerel by Isaac Newton goes to prove that changing our view of the world won't suffice); as whimsical as a look at how some philosophical problems might appear from God's point of view: these essays attest to the timeliness and timelessness of Nozick's thinking. With a personal introduction, in which Nozick discusses the origins, tools, and themes of his work, Socratic Puzzles demonstrates how philosophy can constitute a way of life.

Do our lives have meaning? Should we create more people? Is death bad? Should we commit suicide? Would it be better to be immortal? Should we be optimistic or pessimistic? Since Life, Death, and Meaning: Key Philosophical Readings on the Big Questions first appeared, David Benatar's distinctive anthology designed to introduce students to the key existential questions of philosophy has won a devoted following among users in a variety of upper-level and even introductory courses. While many philosophers in the "continental tradition"-those known as "existentialists"-have engaged these issues at length and often with great popular appeal, English-speaking philosophers have had relatively little to say on these important questions. Yet, the methodology they bring to philosophical questions can, and occasionally has, been applied usefully to "existential" questions. This volume draws together a representative sample of primarily English-speaking philosophers' reflections on life's big questions, divided into six sections, covering (1) the meaning of life, (2) creating people, (3) death, (4) suicide, (5) immortality, and (6) optimism and pessimism. These key readings are supplemented with helpful introductions, study questions, and suggestions for further reading, making the material accessible and interesting for students. In short, the book provides a singular introduction to the way that philosophy has dealt with the big questions of life that we are all tempted to ask.

El filósofo estadounidense Robert Nozick (1938-2002) publicó en 1974 un libro que se tornó clásico: Anarquía, Estado y Utopía. Nozick, en algún sentido, comprimió determinado espíritu individualista de la década del setenta en los Estados Unidos, a partir de la fundación de una filosofía propia del país: el libertarismo. Pensamiento que emanaba del diálogo de la tradición del anarquismo individualista del siglo XIX con el concepto de propiedad lockeano y la economía de la Escuela Austríaca. ¿Qué nos dice hoy a cuarenta años de su publicación? Anarquía, Estado y Utopía es un libro complejo, fascinante, racional y radical, mucho más sutil de lo que se cree. En su desarrollo Nozick omite a Hobbes y Stuart Mill y se apoya en Kant y Locke, al igual que en la tradición individualista libertaria (Spooner, Thoreau) y en los despliegues de Mises y Hayek. El texto, además, vino a debatir abiertamente con Teoría de la Justicia de John Rawls (1971), un libro colosal que obligó a posicionarse en materia de filosofía política y moral, y restauró años de silencio en la filosofía práctica. La cuestión a polemizar será respecto del concepto de justicia distributiva. Sin embargo, la filosofía nozickiana no es tan desalmada como parece serlo, el joven Nozick adscribió en sus años mozos a la New Left (Herbert Marcuse, por ejemplo) y luego sus lecturas viraron producto del encuentro con Ayn Rand y Murray Rothbard. Todo ese tránsito es visible: en el pensamiento libertario de Nozick convive la sensibilidad socialista y la racionalidad liberal, él mismo señaló que las personas más interesantes que había conocido eran socialistas, pero no pensaba como ellos, sin embargo, los liberales, más rígidos y aburridos, pensaban cercano a sus ideas.