 The official purpose of Part I of ASU is to rebut the individualist anarchist’s claim that no state, not even the minimal, nightwatchman, state can be  justified.[16]  In this way, Part I is devoted to what Nozick takes to be the fundamental question of political philosophy, viz., “whether there should be any state at all” (4). Nozick seeks to counter the anarchist’s claim by showing how a minimal state—essentially a state that is limited to the protection of the rights of person, property, and contract—could arise without violating rights. At a later point within this section, we shall have to consider why Nozick focuses upon whether a minimal state could arise without violating rights rather than whether a minimal state could function without violating rights.