Question

The introduction to a book by this thinker says that philosophy should be like the Parthenon, not a tower, so that if it collapses from removing columns, something of beauty remains. That book by this thinker states that a grandmother who would be told that her grandson is well, even if he were unwell, still can know that he’s well when she sees him. This thinker suggested that philosophical proofs are coercive, unlike explanations, in a book that defines knowledge as when subject S would believe (10[1])true proposition P, if and only if P is true. (10[2])That is his theory of “truth tracking.” (10[6])This (10[3])thinker (10[3])illustrated how free (10[1])transactions (10[1])lead to income (10[1])inequality using the example of people paying to see Wilt Chamberlain (10[1])in a (10[1])book that includes the “utility monster” (-5[1])thought experiment. For 10 points, name this author of Anarchy, State, (10[1])and Utopia. ■END■

ANSWER: Robert Nozick (All early clues come from Nozick’s Philosophical Explanations.)
<Philosophy>
= Average correct buzz position

Summary

2025 ACF Nationals04/19/2025Y21100%0%5%105.76

Buzzes

PlayerTeamOpponentBuzz PositionValue
Henry BonWinona StateChicago A8510
Joel MilesMinnesotaBritish Columbia9510
Anuttam RamjiUC Berkeley BNorthwestern9510
Albert Yingzhi NyangLSEOttawa10210
Sinecio MoralesJohns HopkinsOhio State10210
Michael HundingIllinois ARutgers10210
Noah ChinVirginia TechStanford10210
Jonathan ShaufNorth Carolina AHarvard10210
Swapnil GargUC Berkeley AGeorgia Tech10210
Benjamin ChapmanToronto AColumbia B10310
Nathan ZhangCornell AVanderbilt10310
Amogh KulkarniGeorgia StateUCF10310
Arjun KalaIllinois BCornell B10410
Ezra SantosChicago BVirginia10410
Parth JagtapToronto CPenn State10410
Jisoo YooTexasArizona State10710
Rayton LinWaterloo BNorth Carolina B10810
Biniam AlaroFloridaIndiana11110
Ryan RosenbergNYURIT12210
Aryan DesarapuMichiganWUSTL B12410
Alan XieYaleIowa State130-5
Conor ThompsonIowa StateYale14110