Abstract

Robert Nozick's The Examined Life is an attempt at metaphysically speculative and humanly significant philosophy. It is a failed attempt. It fails because it is made within the constricted intellectual horizons of Anglo?American analytic philosophy, which leads Nozick implicitly to identify metaphysical speculation with tautology and extravagant absurdity and to identify value significance with aesthetic or emotional stimulation. Nozick's ?meditation?; on ?The Zigzag of Politics?; is singled out for special attention. It is argued that Nozick's transformation from libertarian to liberal welfare?statist is not a departure from, but a radicalization and affirmation of the egalitarian individualism and moral and political aestheticism of his Anarchy, State, and Utopia.