Gerald Cohen
| Born | 14 April 1941 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
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| Died | 5 August 2009 (aged 68) Oxford, UK |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Marxism, Analytic Philosophy, Egalitarianism |
| Main interests | Political philosophy, Ethics, Philosophy of history, Social theory |
| Notable ideas | Strict Difference Principle, Egalitarian Ethos |
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Gerald Allan "Jerry" Cohen (14 April 1941 – 5 August 2009) was a Marxist political philosopher, formerly Visiting Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, University College London and Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All Souls College, Oxford. Born into a communist Jewish family in Montreal, Cohen was educated at McGill University, Canada (BA, philosophy and political science) and the University of Oxford (BPhil, philosophy) where he studied under Isaiah Berlin and Gilbert Ryle.
Cohen was formerly assistant lecturer (1963–1964), lecturer (1964–1979) then reader (1979–1984) in the Department of Philosophy at University College London, before being appointed to the Chichele chair at Oxford in 1985. Several of his former students, such as Alan Carter, Will Kymlicka, John McMurtry, David Leopold, Michael Otsuka, Seana Shiffrin and Jonathan Wolff have gone on to be important moral and political philosophers in their own right.
Known as a proponent of Analytical Marxism and a founding member of the September Group, Cohen's 1978 work Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence defends an interpretation of Marx's historical materialism often referred to as 'technological determinism' by its critics.[1] In Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality, Cohen offers an extensive moral argument in favour of socialism, contrasting his views with those of John Rawls and Robert Nozick, by articulating an extensive critique of the Lockean principle of self-ownership as well as the use of that principle to defend right – as well as left – libertarianism. In If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? (which covers the topic of his Gifford Lectures) Cohen addresses the question of what egalitarian political principles imply for the personal behaviour of those who subscribe to them.
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Works [edit]
- Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence (1978, 2000)
- History, Labour, and Freedom (1988)
- Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (1995)
- If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? (2000)
- Chapter in Dworkin and his Critics, with replies by Dworkin (2004)
- Rescuing Justice and Equality (2008)
- Why Not Socialism? (2009) [Trad. esp.: ¿Por qué no el socialismo?, Buenos Aires/Madrid, Katz editores, 2011, ISBN 978-84-92946-13-6]
- On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice, and Other Essays in Political Philosophy (2011)
- Finding Oneself in the Other (2012)
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Singer, Peter (2000). Marx: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-19-285405-4.
Further reading [edit]
- The Egalitarian Conscience: Essays in Honour of G. A. Cohen (2006); edited by Christine Sypnowich
External links [edit]
- Socialist Studies Special Edition on the Life and Work of G.A. Cohen
- Imprints interview
- Cohen's Tanner Lectures: "Incentives, Inequality, and Community"
- Cohen interview at Philosophy Bites (mp3 audio)
- Obituary to Gerald Cohen at The Third Estate
- Obituary in The Monthly Review
- Obituary in The Times
- Obituary in The Guardian
- Obituary in The Independent
- Remembering Jerry Cohen: A Tribute in Socialist Worker
- Review of Why Not Socialism? in The Oxonian Review
- Journal of Ethics volume for Jerry Cohen
- Cohen Against Capitalism on Channel 4
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- 20th-century philosophers
- 21st-century philosophers
- Academics of University College London
- Anglophone Quebec people
- British political philosophers
- Jewish Canadian writers
- Canadian political philosophers
- Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford
- Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford
- Jewish philosophers
- Marxist theorists
- McGill University alumni
- Political theorists
- Scholars of Marxism
- British Marxists
- Canadian Marxists
- 1941 births
- 2009 deaths
- Gifford Lecturers
- Jewish socialists
