G. A. Cohen on self‐ownership, property, and equality (original) (raw)
Related papers
Libertarianism vs. Marxism: Reflections on G. A. Cohen‘s Self-Ownership, Freedom and Equality
1998
Self-Ownership, Freedom and Equality is G.A. Cohen's attempt to rescue something of the socialist outlook on society from the challenge of libertarianism, which Cohen identifies with the work of Robert Nozick in his famous book, Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Sympathizing with the leading idea that a person must belong to himself, and thus be unavailable for forced redistribution of his efforts, Cohen is at pains to reconcile the two. This cannot be done -they are flatly contrary. Moreover, equality is a nonsense principle, calling for such things as "equal distribution of natural resources." But resources, as goods, are not "natural": all require work to utilize. The only thing exchanged on markets is services, and estimates of value received are relevantly made only by those party to the exchanges in question. Imposition from above on voluntary exchange can only be socially counterproductive.
The philosopher Gerald A. Cohen died on the 5th of August 2009. His contributions were at rst based on Marx's thought. He really appeared on the intellectual stage in 1978 with his book Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence. Later on, he gradually departed from Marx's theory. He discussed the libertarian concept of selfownership and the possibility of associating it with a Marxist approach, before entering into the normative debate around Rawls's Theory of Justice, while his Marxism was withering away. Based on Kantian philosophy, his critique of Rawls was that it allowed too little autonomy to individual choices. This paper discusses the consistency of Jerry Cohen's intellectual journey with regards to his relation with Marx's work. * Grateful thanks to the editors, especially Anton Leist, for their precious advice, and to Pierre Van Zyl for his linguistic help. 1 Cohen remembers that, when he was a high school student, to go to McGill was a widespread hope and expectation (1999, 35).
Rescuing Justice and Equality from Libertarianism
One of the central motifs of G. A. Cohen's work was his opposition to capitalism in the name of justice. This motif was fully in view in Cohen's work on Robert Nozick's libertarianism: Cohen carefully reconstructed and relentlessly criticized Nozick's apologetics of the free market, which, he thought, was internally coherent but unconvincing. This article suggests that Cohen's opposition to libertarianism did not, however, go far enough, and identifies two respects in which Cohen's position could and should have been more critical of that philosophy.
Analyse and Kritik, 2015
The philosopher Gerald A. Cohen died on the 5th of August 2009. His contributions were at rst based on Marx's thought. He really appeared on the intellectual stage in 1978 with his Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence. Later on, he gradually departed from Marx's theory. He discussed the libertarian concept of self-ownership and the possibility of associating it with a Marxist approach, before entering into the normative debate around Rawls's Theory of Justice, while his Marxism was withering away. Based on Kantian philosophy, his critique of Rawls was that he allowed too little autonomy to individual choices. This paper discusses the consistency of Jerry Cohen's intellectual journey with regards to his relation with Marx's work.
G.A. Cohen and the Ethical Core of Socialism: Equality or Life-Sufficiency?
Socialist Studies Etudes Socialistes, 2012
In this paper I will critically examine G.A.'s Cohen understanding of equality as the normative foundation of socialism. Cohen consistently maintained that inequality was the primary social problem systematically generated by capitalism, and that equality was the primary normative foundation of the socialist alternative. The general question that I want to pose in this paper is: is Cohen's understanding of equality as the normative foundation of socialism consistent with his general conception of socialism as a systemic alternative to capitalism? I will answer that it is not, because equality is not the best normative foundation for socialism conceived of as a systematic alternative to capitalism, and that elements of Cohen's own work imply a deeper normative foundation in what I call the principle of life-sufficiency. Résumé Cet article examine la façon dont G.A. Cohen comprenait l'égalité comme l'un des fondements normatifs du socialisme. Cohen a argumenté que l'inégalité est le premier problème social du capitalisme, et que l'égalité est le premier fondement normatif de l'alternative socialiste. Dans cet article, je m'interroge sur la cohérence entre l'idée portée par Cohen selon laquelle l'égalité est le fondement normatif du socialisme et sa conception générale du