Nozick's theory of justice

Introduction

Robert Nozick's entitlement theory is a libertarian account of justice and a direct reply to Rawls. Where Rawls would redistribute to help the worst-off, Nozick argues that justice lies in respecting people's rights to what they have justly acquired or received.

Nozick's entitlement theory of justice

Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974) sets out an entitlement theory of justice as a libertarian reply to Rawls's distributive theory, and it draws on John Locke. NCERT does not name Nozick, but it records the free-market side of the debate his theory belongs to.

Core ideas. (1) Rights come first. Each person has a moral right to act as he or she chooses, on terms freely agreed with others, so long as this does not harm people who have not consented in ways that violate their rights; libertarians start from the idea that each person fully owns himself or herself. (2) Entitlement, judged historically. What a person is entitled to depends on past actions: a holding is just if it came about through fair acquisition or fair transfer, and private property is justified so long as it was acquired by just means. (3) A procedural, not a patterned, view. IGNOU classes Nozick's theory as procedural: it rests on individual rights, lets individuals' own choices settle entitlements, and so favours individualism and the market; redistributing property to reach a fairer distribution is, for Nozick, a breach of individuals' natural rights. (4) Taxation. Taking from some to give to others gives the state no better title than a thief would have, so redistributive taxation for welfare policies is wrong in itself. (5) The state. Nozick finds it hard to see how the state can rightly coerce people without their consent even to keep minimal public order, and he defends market freedom against the welfare state.

Criticisms. (a) Rawlsians reply that what people hold reflects natural endowments and social starting points that no one deserves, so past entitlements cannot settle what is just. (b) It ignores need and the unequal start from which people compete, which NCERT treats as the heart of social justice. (c) It lets market luck decide life chances and, as NCERT says of free markets generally, markets tend to work in favour of the strong and wealthy where basic goods are concerned. (d) Even within libertarianism, left-libertarians accept self-ownership but hold natural resources in common, so that anyone who appropriates them owes the others their value.

Contrast with Rawls

Conclusion

Nozick offers a challenging defence of liberty and property, which forces egalitarians to explain why redistribution is justified. Its weaknesses are its reliance on entitlements that may rest on undeserved advantages and its indifference to need; for a society like India with many social and economic inequalities, the NCERT approach, which asks for a basic minimum and social justice through the state, is hard to square with a state that will not redistribute.