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I want to go back to Nozick's ideas about the Lockean Proviso.

Nozick agrees with Locke that initial acquisition isn't justified unless no one is made worse off by the acquisition. I've been looking at some criticisms of his view, especially some comments made by Will Kymlicka in his book Contemporary Political Philosophy.

Kymlicka raises a couple of interesting points. First of all, Nozick only considers whether non-owners are made worse off in strictly material terms. But is that really the only way in which people can be made better or worse off? Can't people be made worse off because their role in the decision making process in their society is radically changed? Can't people be made worse off if they can no longer live the kind of life they prefer to lead? I think those things make a big difference. If one group in a society acquires extensive control over natural resources, the role of others may be changed for the worse in those ways even if their material condition is improved. Non-owners will have far less power in the politics of their society. They will also have fewer options in choosing a way of life. Perhaps they want to be shepherds, but the owners of the land want to develop agriculture. The non-owners may be better off materially as farmers, but they have lost the way of life they preferred.

Kymlicka also points out that Nozick insists that the proper comparison is between the material condition of non-owners in the state of nature and their material condition after the resources have been acquired by others. But that isn't the only possible comparison. What if ownership by a different group of people would result in an even higher material standard of living? What if a collective form of ownership would allow those who would be non-owners (under Nozick's scheme) to satisfy more of their preferences or have a higher standard of living? The point is that there are other options that Nozick does not consider. But if we do consider them, it is not clear that Nozick's justification for initial acquisition is successful.