Robert Nozick has a unique place in the annals of rational choice theory: he refuted it. Or so say I in my role as the last of the true Popperians. That was back in 1969. But now the mature philosopher is out to turn the theory into, not exactly a transcendental reality, but something implanted deep in the minds of some, if not all, human beings who have been sculpted by Darwinian evolution. This is an ideological book, concluding with evolutionary premises implying a complacent vision in which something like our present social order arose out of biological facts. The book begins, innocently enough, with technical questions about making reasonable choices. I'll follow Nozick up that garden path, which is wonderfully landscaped, fresh and fragrant. But I'm giving warning now that I'm afraid of the ogres at the bottom of his garden.

LRB 27 January 1994 | PDF Download