“Individuals have rights and there are things no person or group may do to them (without violating their rights).”

—  Robert Nozick , book Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Preface, p. ix
Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974)
Context: Individuals have rights and there are things no person or group may do to them (without violating their rights). So strong and far-reaching are these rights that they raise the question of what, if anything, the state and its officials may do. How much room do individual rights leave for the state?

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American political philosopher 1938–2002

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