Nozick, Robert

1938 – He was born on the 16th day of November this year in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

1959 - He earned his B.A. degree in this year at Columbia University, where he was a socialist, and a member of the left-wing Students for a Democratic Society.

1961 – This year, he went on to an M.A. and a Ph.D. in 1963 from Princeton University.

1962 – He became an instructor and assistant professor of philosophy at Princeton, and in 1965, he went to Harvard as assistant professor until 1967.

1967 – This year, he transferred to Rockefeller University as associate professor, then back to Harvard as full professor in 1969. He became a familiar figure in the Harvard Yard, often arriving at his office in athletic togs after running or bicycling from his home.

1971 - In part, Nozick's argument was a reply to his Harvard colleague, John Rawls. In his famous book, “A Theory of Justice” Rawls gave a high value to equality, justifying functional inequalities only insofar as they benefit the worst off in society.

1974- Nozick won almost instant fame in this year with his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia, which earned a National Book Award in 1975.

1981 – He went on to other interests, especially the classical problems of philosophy. He commented that in ten years of teaching at Harvard he never repeated a course. That enabled him to work in a great variety of areas. His second book, Philosophical Explanations in this year, is a massive 770-pages study of issues in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and "the meaning of life."

1989 - Recent works by Nozik include The Examined Life in this year, which reflects on what is important in life and The Nature of Rationality in 1993, which explores rational belief.

1996 – He compiled a collection of essays, Socratic Puzzles.

1997 - Nozik participated in a friend-of-the-court-brief that was submitted to the Supreme Court, in order to outline a philospher's point of view on euthanasia, (the right to die). Nozik was one of a team of philosophers, which included Ronald Dworkin, Thomas Nagel, John Rawls, Thomas Scanlon, and Judith Jarvis Thomson.