Philosophy:The Examined Life
 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Robert Nozick |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Philosophy |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | 1989 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 308 |
| ISBN | ISBN:0-671-72501-7 |
The Examined Life is a 1989 collection of philosophical meditations by the philosopher Robert Nozick.[1] The book drew a number of critical reactions. The work is drawn partially as a response to Socrates assertion in Plato's "The Apology of Socrates" that the unexamined life is one not worth living[2][3]
Summary
The book is an attempt to "tackle human nature, the personal, 'the holiness of everyday life' and its meaning."[4] Nozick expresses his concerns with libertarianism and proposes some form of inheritance taxation.[5][6] According to reviewers such as Thomas Kelly, Nozick used The Examined Life as well as another work to "explicitly [disown]" the earlier radical libertarian concepts he presented in Anarchy, State, and Utopia.[7]
Reception
Denis Donoghue praised The Examined Life in The Wilson Quarterly, but stated that it had some passages that were less strong than others.[2] The journalist Jane O'Grady called the work "disappointingly schmaltzy" in The Guardian .[4]
In The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (2005), the philosopher Anthony Quinton described The Examined Life as "unkindly treated".[8]
Jim Holt, a columnist for The Literary Review leaves a few remarks about the "semantic slum", essentially deeming it "trickled down philosophy", saying that it is not worth following/reading.
Notes
- ↑ Capaldi, Nicholas (1998). The Enlightenment Project in the Analytic Conversation. Springer. p. 371. ISBN 9780792350149. https://books.google.com/books?id=eQ2Tph4eY04C&pg=PA371.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Donoghue, Denis (Spring 1990). "The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations by Robert Nozick (review)". The Wilson Quarterly 14 (2): 92–94.
- ↑ "Apology", Plato: Euthyphro; Apology of Socrates; and Crito (Oxford University Press), 1924-01-01, doi:10.1093/oseo/instance.00254376, ISBN 978-0-19-814015-3, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00254376, retrieved 2021-09-21
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 O' Grady, Jane (January 26, 2002). "Robert Nozick: Leftwing political philosopher whose rightward shift set the tone for the Reagan-Thatcher era". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/jan/26/guardianobituaries.socialsciences.
- ↑ Wolff, Jonathan (1991). Robert Nozick: Property, Justice and the Minimal State. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 156. ISBN 0-8047-1856-3.
- ↑ Guido Erreygers, Toon Vandevelde (1997). Is Inheritance Legitimate?: Ethical and Economic Aspects of Wealth Transfers. Springer. p. 8. ISBN 9783540627258. https://books.google.com/books?id=5zmVNu6LIPgC&pg=PA8.
- ↑ Kelly, Thomas (2002-07-16). "Review of Robert Nozick" (in en). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. ISSN 1538-1617. https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/robert-nozick/.
- ↑ Quinton, Anthony (2005). Honderich, Ted. ed. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 740. ISBN 0-19-926479-1.
 |  |
