AN EVALUATION OF THE CONCEPT OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE IN ROBERT NOZICK’S LIBERAL PHILOSOPHY

摘要

The fundamental problem of freedom and self-determination of the individuals has generated series of debates in the history of political philosophy. It is, however, germane to note that freedom and self determination figured prominently in Robert nozick’s political phyilosophy. The objective of this paper is that the notion of freedom, and determination or self realization is a contextual one and that the objective of the state is to guarantee the protection of individual rights. For Nozick, individual rights are non-negotiable because it remains the only property of the individuals; and this has given room for the notion of a minimal state. This paper reveals that Nozick’s political philosophy is revolves around three distinct feature: a defence of a minimal state (a night watchman state of classical liberalism), economic theory of justice and a utopian vision of society. This paper takes a cursory look at Robert Nozick conceptualization and contextualization of distributive justice which tends to be geard towards an unpatterned form of distribution. His political philosophy of a minimal state and his notion of a free capitalist society is at variance with Rawls’ maximal or welfarist state. This paper adopts the analytical framework in discussing about Robert Nozick’s notion of individual rights and a free capitalist society. This paper, therefore, concludes that Nozick’s theoretical investigation adovocates for an unpatterned economic distribution of justice. He is greatly indebted to the labour theory of John Locke and Karl Marx. Nozick’s economic theory of justice is deeply in the laizzez faire notion of capitalist ideology.