Counter Arguments To Nozick's Entitlement Theory

: Introduction Robert Nozick was one of the most influential political philosophers of his time, and his book “Anarchy, State and Utopia," has become a modern classic. His theories, especially the entitlement theory, have become the foundation for the Libertarian Political Party and the discussion of numerous modern philosophers to date. The entitlement theory is a core feature of Nozick’s entire ideology. This essay will be broken up into four parts. I will start off by presenting a detailed exposition of Nozick’s theory. I will continue, in the next section, by providing counter arguments to Nozick’s theory. The third section I aim to refute the objections to Nozick’s entitlement theory. In the final section, I will finish with what I believe
According to Nozick, at least two conditions must be met in order to justify any sort of individual holdings. The first condition that needs to be maintained, is the right to self ownership. To demonstrate this condition, Nozick compares the rights we have over ourselves, to the legal rights a slaveholder holds over his slave. To summarize, a slave owner posses the legal property rights over his slave, and he has a right to utilize his slave in any way he wants. He has this right, as long as he is not violating the rights of another person. Alternatively, regardless of the situation, no other person may employ the service of the slave, nor may another person force the slave to do something without the voluntary consent of the slaveholder. Any service acquired from the slave that did not follow from the direct permission of the slaveholder, would violate the rights the slaveholder has over his slave. In the same sense, people have the moral right over their bodies. They may exploit their bodies in any way they see fit, as long as they do not violate others rights. In addition, no one can coerce or force a person into using their body without their consent; doing so would violate their rights of