The Power of Independent Thinking

←  EVENTS



Stay Connected
Get the latest updates straight to your inbox.



The Business of Liberty and the Liberty of Business
Robert Nozick’s Classic, Anarchy, State, and Utopia at 50
Thursday, October 24, 2024

building

When
Thursday, October 24, 2024
6:00 p.m.: Wine and Hors d’Oeuvres Reception
7:00 p.m.: Program and Q&A

Where
Independent Institute Conference Center
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621
Free Parking
Map and directions

Tickets
General Admission: $15 or $10 for Members
All tickets include a free copy of the Fall 2024 issue of The Independent Review (list price: $11.95)
Book: Anarchy, State, and Utopia, $10 per copy (50% off)

Featuring
Gregory J. Robson
Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, Associate Research Professor in the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, and Co-Editor of The Independent Review: A Journal of Political Economy. He is editor of the forthcoming book, Technology Ethics: A Philosophical Introduction and Readings (with Jonathan Tsou), and a contributing author to the book, Exploring the Political Economy and Social Philosophy of F. A. Hayek. His articles and reviews have been published in such scholarly journals as Ethics; Journal of Moral Philosophy; Politics, Philosophy & Economics; Journal of Business Ethics; and Public Affairs Quarterly.
Christopher Freiman
Professor in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics, West Virginia University. He is the author of Unequivocal Justice and Why It’s OK to Ignore Politics as well as numerous articles and book chapters. His work has appeared in The Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, and The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy.
Bio on WVU.edu
Phillip W. Magness
Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and the David J. Theroux Chair in Political Economy. He has served as Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, and as Academic Program Director at the Institute for Humane Studies and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy in the School of Public Policy and Government at George Mason University.

Join us for a reception and discussion of Robert Nozick’s classic book, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, first published fifty years ago. Nozick’s book refuted social-justice statism—but also rankled many conservatives and libertarians. The Guardian (U.K.), proclaimed Nozick “one of the 20th century’s greatest political theorists.” This event coincides with the publication of the Fall 2024 special issue of The Independent Review, featuring scholars who revisit Nozick’s rational, complex, and balanced case for individual liberty and limited government. These scholars not only admire Nozick and deepen our understanding of his seminal work but also honor him with important disagreements and reinterpretations.

The full set of contributors to the Fall 2024 issue of The Independent Review:

  • Gregory Robson, “The Business of Liberty and the Liberty of Business: Nozick's Contribution.”
  • David Schmidtz, “My Dinner with Nozick.”
  • Jason Brennan, “Robert Nozick and the Moral High Ground.”
  • Jessica Flanigan and Chris Freiman, “Putting Wilt Chamberlain Back in the Game: Why Liberalism Is Not Compatible with Distributive Egalitarianism.”
  • Aeon Skoble, “Anarchy, State, and Utopia at Fifty: Reassessing Nozick on Pluralism.”
  • Richard Salsman, “Nozick on Taxation: The Necessity of Funding the Legitimate State.”
  • David Gordon, “New Problems in Nozick’s Derivation of the Minimal State.”
  • Eric Mack, “Nozick on the Separateness of Persons: A Reconstruction.”
  • Gregory Robson, symposium editor and essay author of “Christianizing Nozick.”
Anarchy, State,and Utopia
Anarchy, State,and Utopia
by Robert Nozick

First published in response to John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice, Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia has since become one of the defining texts in classic libertarian thought. Challenging and ultimately rejecting liberal, socialist, and conservative agendas, Nozick boldly asserts that the rights of individuals are violated as a state's responsibilities increase—and the only way to avoid these violations rests in the creation of a minimalist state limited to protection against force, fraud, theft, and the enforcement of contracts.


Customer support: [email protected], (510) 632-1366



  • Catalyst
  • Beyond Homeless
  • MyGovCost.org
  • FDAReview.org
  • OnPower.org
  • elindependent.org