“None of these are permissible modes of transition from one situation to another.”

—  Robert Nozick , book Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Source: Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), Ch. 7 : Distributive Justice, Section I, The Entitlement Theory, p. 152
Context: Some people steal from others, or defraud them, or enslave them, seizing their product and preventing them from living as they choose, or forcibly exclude others from competing in exchanges. None of these are permissible modes of transition from one situation to another.

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Robert Nozick photo
Robert Nozick 32
American political philosopher 1938–2002

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