G. A. Cohen

"Gerald Cohen" redirects here. For the American composer and cantor, see Gerald Cohen (composer).

G. A. Cohen FBA
File:Philosopher G. A. Cohen in 1986.jpg Cohen in 1986
Born	Gerald Allan Cohen (1941-04-14)14 April 1941 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died	5 August 2009(2009-08-05) (aged 68) Oxford, England
Other names	Jerry Cohen
Spouses	Margaret Pearce ​ ​ (m. 1965; div. 1996)​ Michèle Jacottet ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	3
Academic background
Alma mater	McGill University New College, Oxford
Academic advisor	Gilbert Ryle
Influences	Louis Althusser Isaiah Berlin Karl Marx John Rawls Gilbert Ryle
Academic work
Discipline	Philosophy
Sub-discipline	Political philosophy ethics philosophy of history social theory
School or tradition	Analytical Marxism left-libertarianism egalitarianism
Institutions	University College, London All Souls College, Oxford
Doctoral students	Cécile Fabre Will Kymlicka Michael Otsuka Seana Shiffrin
Notable students	Simon Caney Jonathan Wolff
Notable works	Karl Marx's Theory of History (1978)
Notable ideas	Distinction between a strict and lax interpretation of the difference principle egalitarian ethos
Influenced	Alan Carter Will Kymlicka John McMurtry Larry Temkin Michael Otsuka John Roemer Euclid Tsakalotos Jonathan Wolff

Gerald Allan Cohen FBA (/ˈkoʊən/ KOH-ən; 14 April 1941 – 5 August 2009) was a Canadian political philosopher who held the positions of Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, University College London and Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All Souls College, Oxford. He was known for his work on Marxism, and later, egalitarianism and distributive justice in normative political philosophy.

Background

Cohen was born into an ethnically Jewish but "militantly anti-religious" and communist family in Montreal, Quebec, on 14 April 1941. Cohen's mother was a longtime Canadian Communist Party member; his father had similar political views but chose not to join. Cohen was educated at Morris Winchevsky School, Strathcona Academy, and Outremont High School. He then attended McGill University, obtaining a BA in philosophy and political science, and the University of Oxford, where he studied under Gilbert Ryle (and was also taught by Isaiah Berlin) and obtained a BPhil in philosophy.

Academic career

Cohen was 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 students, such as Christopher Bertram, Simon Caney, Alan Carter, Cécile Fabre, Will Kymlicka, John McMurtry, David Leopold, Michael Otsuka, Seana Shiffrin, and Jonathan Wolff went on to become important moral and political philosophers. Cohen retired from the Chichele chair in 2008. At the time of his death, he was a visiting Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at UCL Faculty of Laws.

Cohen was a proponent of analytical Marxism and a founding member of the September Group. His 1978 work Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence defends an interpretation of Karl Marx's historical materialism its critics often call technological determinism. In History, Labour, and Freedom and 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 his 2001 book, If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? (which reprints his 1996 Gifford Lectures), Cohen addresses the question of what egalitarian political principles imply for the personal behaviour of those who hold them.

Cohen was known for his flamboyant style during philosophical debates. According to his best friend, the philosopher Gerald Dworkin, "Nothing was too inappropriate, private, bizarre, or embarrassing to be suddenly brought into the conversation".

Personal life and death

In 1965, Cohen married Margaret Pearce; they had three children and divorced in 1996. Three years later, he married Michèle Jacottet. He personally abjured technology, a stance he called "technological conservatism"; Michèle answered all his email.

Cohen was close friends with Marxist political philosopher Marshall Berman.

On 5 August 2009, Cohen died from a stroke at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, aged 68.

Selected works

• Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence (1978, 2000). Princeton, NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press and Oxford University Press.
• Included in History, Labour, and Freedom (1988), pp. 255-282.
• "Marx and Locke on Land and Labour" Proceedings of the British Academy 71, 1985 (1986)
• History, Labour, and Freedom (1988). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• "Incentives, Inequality, and Community" The Tanner Lectures On Human Values, Delivered at Stanford University May 21, 23, 1991
• (orig. presented as Isaiah Berlin Memorial Lecture, May 1998).
• This journal article is included as a chapter in Cohen's 2001 book, If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich?
• "Expensive Taste Rides Again," in: Ronald Dworkin and his Critics, with replies by Dworkin (2004)
• Rescuing Justice and Equality (2008)
• Why Not Socialism? (2009)
• On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice, and Other Essays in Political Philosophy (2011)
• Finding Oneself in the Other (2012)
• Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy (2013)

See also

• Luck egalitarianism

Further reading

• Corlett. J. Angelo (ed.) The Journal of Ethics Vol. 14, No. 3/4, Devoted to G. A. Cohen (Sept/Dec 2010) JSTOR i40041780
• Sypnowich, Christine (ed.) The Egalitarian Conscience: Essays in Honour of G. A. Cohen (2006)
• • Jonathan Wolff (14 August 2017). "The Political Philosophy of G. A. Cohen: Review by Jonathan Wolff". Marx and Philosophy

External links

• "Self-Ownership, History and Socialism: An Interview with G.A. Cohen" originally in Imprints: vol. 1 no.1 (June 1996).
• "G.A. Cohen on Inequality of Wealth" Philosophy Bites audio interview (2007)
• Cohen "Against Capitalism" on YouTube, episode of Opinions (1986)
• 2010 All Souls College Commemoration of Gerald (Jerry) Allan Cohen with addresses from Professors Philippe Van Parijs, John Roemer, Myles Burnyeat and Timothy Scanlon, and a family tribute from Jerry's son Gideon Cohen.