Dr Ralf Bader, Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy of Merton College and a former president of the Hayek Society, will speak on ‘Nozick’s justification of the state‘ on November 6, 2013 in Christ Church.

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Time: 6 November 2013, 7.45pm
Venue: Christ Church (Lecture Room 1)

Abstract:
Nozick’s justification of the state in part 1 of ‘Anarchy, State, and Utopia’ is almost universally considered to be a failure. In particular, it is generally held that Nozick’s project is ill-conceived and that the very idea of trying to justify a state by appealing to a hypothetical invisible-hand explanation is misguided. This paper will explicate Nozick’s project, showing that he has identified a form of justification that is distinct from traditional hypothetical, teleological and historical justifications.

About the speaker:
Dr Ralf Bader is a Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy at Merton College, Oxford. He read PPE at St Edmund Hall and then received M.Litt. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the Univeristy of St Andrews. Prior to coming back to Oxford, Dr Bader was a Bersoff Assistant Professor and Faculty Fellow in the Philosophy Department at New York University. He works on political philosophy, metaphysics and Kant.
More information on his personal website: http://ralf-bader.com/