The Examined Life

The Examined Life is a 1989 collection of philosophical meditations by the philosopher Robert Nozick.[1] The book drew a number of critical reactions.

This article is about the 1989 philosophical book. For other uses, see The Examined Life (disambiguation).
The Examined Life
Cover of the first edition
AuthorRobert Nozick
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPhilosophy
PublisherSimon & Schuster
Publication date
1989
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages308
ISBN0-671-72501-7

Summary

The book is an attempt to "tackle human nature, the personal, 'the holiness of everyday life' and its meaning."[2] Nozick expresses his concerns with libertarianism and proposes some form of inheritance taxation.[3][4]

Reception

Denis Donoghue praised The Examined Life in The Wilson Quarterly, but stated that it had some passages that were less strong than others.[5] The journalist Jane O'Grady called the work "disappointingly schmaltzy" in The Guardian.[2]

In The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (2005), the philosopher Anthony Quinton described The Examined Life as "unkindly treated".[6]

Notes
  1. Capaldi, Nicholas (1998). The Enlightenment Project in the Analytic Conversation. Springer. p. 371. ISBN 9780792350149.
  2. O' Grady, Jane (January 26, 2002). "Robert Nozick: Leftwing political philosopher whose rightward shift set the tone for the Reagan-Thatcher era". The Guardian.
  3. Wolff, Jonathan (1991). Robert Nozick: Property, Justice and the Minimal State. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 156. ISBN 0-8047-1856-3.
  4. Guido Erreygers, Toon Vandevelde (1997). Is Inheritance Legitimate?: Ethical and Economic Aspects of Wealth Transfers. Springer. p. 8. ISBN 9783540627258.
  5. Donoghue, Denis (Spring 1990). "The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations by Robert Nozick (review)". The Wilson Quarterly. 14 (2): 92–94. JSTOR 40258049.
  6. Quinton, Anthony (2005). Honderich, Ted (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 740. ISBN 0-19-926479-1.


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