Philosopher Robert Nozick died this morning at the age of 63. An obituary at Harvard University’s Gazette notes that Nozic was one of the most influential philosophers of the late 20th century.
Among other things, Nozick was almost singlehandedly responsible for the rise in academic interest in libertarian-oriented philosophies with his 1974 book, Anarchary, State and Utopia which was a devestating critique of John Rawls’ Theory of Justice. And he didn’t stop there. As the Harvard Gazette puts it,
In “Philosophical Explanations,” Nozick took on subjects that many academic philosophers had dismissed as irrelevant or meaningless, such as free will versus determinism and the nature of subjective experience, and why there is something rather than nothing. In dealing with these questions, he rejected the idea of strict philosophical proof, adopting instead a notion of philosophical pluralism.
A truly original thinker who will be missed.