A deflationary tack towards putative philosophical necessities such as this timelessness of truth, attempting to convert them into empirical issues, is a salient feature of the book.

Towards identifying the function of consciousness, Nozick distinguishes seven increasing gradations of awareness that correlate with and explain graduated capacity to fit behavior to aspects of situations.

Invariances pursues a theme begun in The Nature of Rationality that Nozick calls the genealogy of ethics, in contrast to a justificatory account.

He focuses on a time frame that starts with our hunter-gatherer ancestors, though he reckons a genealogy could go down the nonexistent evolutionary ladder indefinitely (to the cooperation of genes on the chromosome, etc.).

A school tax would be an example, restricting property rights but not outrageously, in order to respond to the worthy value of an educated citizenry.

This layer too is built in accordance with the principle of minimum mutilation, pursuing its higher goals with as little damage as possible to Respect and Responsiveness.

This fits with his attempt to remain true to his libertarian roots, but his new commitment to democracy implies a more or less considerable democratic exploration of higher goals.

In The Examined Life he celebrates the "zigzag" of democratic politics through the values coercively enforced by different elected parties.