Our distinctness as individuals has weighty implications for our understanding of interpersonal interaction and association in accordance with the moral side constraints (rights) that Robert Nozick cautions us to take seriously at the outset in Anarchy, State, and Utopia. This essay examines John Rawls’s response to utilitarianism and Nozick’s response to both utilitarianism and Rawls’s account of distributive justice.

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Eric Mack is an emeritus professor of philosophy at Tulane University.
EconomistsEconomyPhilosophy and Religion
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Spring 2004 Feser on Nozick