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Obituary

Robert Nozick (1938-2002)

by Anja Steinbauer

The tall grey-haired man at the podium spoke quickly and with enthusiasm, gesticulating energetically as his lively eyes gazed over the several hundred philosophers who listened eagerly. Words such as ‘charismatic’, ‘sharp’, ‘enthusiastic’ may best describe Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick who died of stomach cancer at the age of 63 on 23 January 2002.

Born on 16 November 1938 in Brooklyn to the Russian immigrants Max Nozick and Sophie Cohen Nozick, he developed an interest in philosophy while still at school. Nozick described his early shoulder-brushing experience with the subject in his book The Examined Life (1989): “When I was 15 years old, or 16, I carried around on the streets of Brooklyn a paperback copy of Plato’s Republic, frontcover facing outward. I had read only some of it and understood even less, but I was excited by it and knew it was something wonderful.

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