Nozick, Robert

Anarchy, state, and utopia by Robert Nozick ( Book )
72 editions published between 1974 and 2009 in 7 languages and held by 2,260 libraries worldwide

Philosophical explanations by Robert Nozick ( Book )
24 editions published between 1981 and 1996 in English and Undetermined and held by 1,869 libraries worldwide

The nature of rationality by Robert Nozick ( Book )
15 editions published between 1993 and 2001 in English and Spanish and held by 1,584 libraries worldwide
Repeatedly and successfully, the celebrated Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick has reached out to a broad audience beyond the confines of his discipline, addressing ethical and social problems that matter to every thoughtful person. Here Nozick continues his search for the connections between philosophy and "ordinary" experience. In the lively and accessible style that his readers have come to expect, he offers a bold theory of rationality, the one characteristic deemed to fix humanity's "specialness." What are principles for? asks Nozick. We could act simply on whim, or maximize our self-interest and recommend that others do the same. As Nozick explores rationality of decision and rationality of belief, he shows how principles actually function in our day-to-day thinking and in our efforts to live peacefully and productively with one another. In Nozick's view, misconceptions of rationality have resulted in many intractable philosophical problems. For example, the Kantian attempt to make principled behavior the sole ultimate standard of conduct extends rationality beyond its bounds. In this provocative volume, Nozick reformulates current decision theory to include the symbolic meaning of actions in areas from controlling impulses to fighting society's war against drugs. The author proposes a new rule of rational decision, "maximizing decision-value," which is a weighted sum of causal, evidential, and symbolic utility. In a particularly fascinating section of the book he traces the implications of this rule for the famous Prisoner's Dilemma and for Newcomb's Problem. Rationality of belief, according to Nozick, involves two aspects: support by reasons that make the belief credible, and generation by a process that reliably produces true beliefs. A new evolutionary account explains how some factual connections are instilled in us as seemingly self-evident, thus reversing the direction of Kant's "Copernican Revolution." Proposing a theory of rational belief that includes both the intellectual credibility of the belief and the practical consequences of believing it, Nozick also provides a fresh resolution of the "lottery paradox." Finally, Nozick explores the scope and limits of instrumental rationality, or the effective and efficient pursuit of given goals, and suggests some new conditions on the rationality of goals. Throughout, the book combines daring speculations with detailed investigations to portray the nature and status of rationality and the essential role that imagination plays in this singular human aptitude.

The examined life : philosophical meditations by Robert Nozick ( Book )
15 editions published between 1989 and 2006 in English and French and held by 1,351 libraries worldwide
Philosophical essays on "happiness, dying, immortality, creativity, religious faith, sexuality, good and evil, wisdom, and the gap between the ideal and the actual."

Invariances : the structure of the objective world by Robert Nozick ( Book )
6 editions published in 2001 in English and held by 665 libraries worldwide

Socratic puzzles by Robert Nozick ( Book )
11 editions published between 1997 and 2006 in English and Chinese and held by 606 libraries worldwide
Comprising essays and philosophical fictions, classics and new work, the book ranges from Socrates to W. V. Quine, from the implications of an Israeli kibbutz to the flawed arguments of Ayn Rand. Nozick considers the figure of Socrates himself as well as the Socratic method (why is it a method of getting at the truth?). Many of these essays bring classic methods to bear on new questions about choice. How should you choose in a disconcerning situation ("Newcomb's Problem") when your decisions are completely predictable? Why do threats and not offers typically coerce our choices? How do we make moral judgments when we realize that our moral principles have exceptions? Other essays present new approaches to familiar intellectual puzzles, from the stress on simplicity in scientific hypotheses to the tendency of intellectuals to oppose capitalism.

The Possibility of knowledge : Nozick and his critics ( Book )
6 editions published between 1986 and 1987 in English and held by 443 libraries worldwide

The normative theory of individual choice by Robert Nozick ( Book )
8 editions published between 1963 and 1990 in English and held by 132 libraries worldwide

Anarchie, état et utopie by Robert Nozick ( Book )
4 editions published between 1988 and 2003 in French and English and held by 130 libraries worldwide
Plaidoyer sophistiqué en faveur de l'"État minimum" qui serait, selon Nozick, le seul légitime. [SDM].

Anarchie, Staat, Utopia by Robert Nozick ( Book )
8 editions published between 1976 and 2011 in German and Undetermined and held by 67 libraries worldwide