difficulties, rather than wholesale implementation 134 . Thus, the pragmatist claim, after Richard Rorty, that a state that seeks to protect and promote “basic human rights” is more desirable than one that does not, regardless of the philosophical validity of the rights claimed or the fundamental necessity of the state having “functions”, is as well served by Nozick’s formulation of the argument as it is by Thomas Paine or the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) 135 . Similarly, Nozick’s “Wilt Chamberlain” argument, and his emphasis on rights and liberty, can be seen in the context of an appeal to similarly desirable concepts; it becomes less relevant whether the clai m to the state’s fundamental purpose is valid and merited or not, and more relevant whether, in pragmatic terms, there is a universal appeal in the notion of a state that prosecutes basic human rights over one that does not 136 . If there is, then Nozick’s arg ument is as good as any for attributing that function to civic governance, since the criterion for assessing the merits of the argument are similarly eroded. Liberalism has also found difficulty in separating the ideal from the extant in relation to the definition of a state 137 . As Joseph Raz notes: 134 Ibid., pp.154-155, specifically footnote 28. 135 Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony and Solidarity , CUP, Cambridge, 1989, Paine, T., The Rights of Man , at http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/thomas-paine-the-rights-of- man/text.php , specifically his “Enumerations”, and the European Convention on Human Rights at http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf, both retrieved 15/04/2016 at 13:56 136 Nozick, R., Anarchy, State and Utopia , at https://joseywales1965.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/0001_anarchy_state_an d_utopia.pdf, ps. 96 and 161 retrieved 15/04/2016 at 14:12 p.m. 137 Nozick, R., Anarchy, State and Utopia , at https://joseywales1965.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/0001_anarchy_state_an d_utopia.pdf, p. 22, retrieved 15/04/2016 at 14:12 p.m.
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