“What persons may and may not do to one another limits what they may do through the apparatus of a state, or do to establish such an apparatus.”

— Robert Nozick , book Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Source: Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), Ch. 1 : Why State of Nature Theory?; Political Philosophy, p. 6
Context: Some anarchists have claimed not merely that we would be better off without a state, but that any state necessarily violates people's moral rights and hence is intrinsically immoral. Our starting point then, though nonpolitical, is by intention far from nonmoral. Moral philosophy sets the background for, and boundaries of, political philosophy. What persons may and may not do to one another limits what they may do through the apparatus of a state, or do to establish such an apparatus.

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Robert Nozick 32

American political philosopher 1938–2002

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“What persons may and may not do to one another limits what they may do through the apparatus of a state, or do to establish such an apparatus.”

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Robert Nozick 32

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