From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Tue Aug 20 2002 - 11:46:01 MDT
Michael Wiik:
>I have in preparation a longer essay on this, but for the moment I am
>seeking additional reading which directly addresses this (to me)
>apparent paradox, that libertarianism and utopianism cannot peacefully
>coexist in any but short-term conditions. Any suggestions?
I haven't read the answers on this thread yet, but I suspect that
someone has already mentioned this book. This quote gives you an
idea of Nozick's perspective.
-----
Robert Nozick, in his description of the minimal state (which he
labels as 'utopian' until the end of this chapter (Part III) when he
makes the philosophical equivalence):
begin{quote}
One persistent strand in utopian [minimal state] thinking, as we have
mentioned, is the feeling that there is some set of principles obvious
enough to be accepted by all men of good will, precise enough to give
unambiguous guidance in particular situations, clear enough so that
all will realize its dictates, and complete enough to cover all
problems which actually will arise. Since I do not assume that there
are such principles, I do not assume that the political realm will
wither away. The messiness of the details of a political apparatus and
the details of how it is to be controlled and limited do not fit
easily into one's hopes for a sleek, simple utopian [minimal state]
scheme.
end{quote}
(Nozick, R. _Anarchy, State, and Utopia_, Blackwell Publ, 1980, pg. 330)
---- -- ******************************************************************** Amara Graps, PhD email: amara@amara.com Computational Physics vita: ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/ ******************************************************************** "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." --Anais Nin
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