G. A. Cohen Quotes
Gerald Allan Cohen was a Canadian-British political philosopher and the leading figure of the school of analytical Marxism. Born to a Communist Jewish family in Montreal, he studied at McGill and Oxford and held the chair of social and political theory at All Souls College, Oxford. The quotes below are attributed to G. A. Cohen, organized by topic.
Browse G. A. Cohen by topic
G. A. Cohen on Freedom
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“G. A. Cohen, Self-ownership, Freedom, and Equality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 3”
I never believed, as many Marxists professed to do, that normative principles were irrelevant to the socialist movement, that, since the movement was of oppressed people fighting for their own liberation, there was no room or need for specifically moral inspiration in it. I thought no such thing partly for the plain reason that I observed enormous selfless dedication among the active communists wh
G. A. Cohen on Justice
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Attributed to G. A. Cohen:
“From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs is still the right ideal.”
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Attributed to G. A. Cohen:
“Equality requires the absence of unjust inequalities, not the absence of all difference.”
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“I believe that certain inequalities that cannot be forbidden in the name of socialist equality of opportunity should nevertheless be forbidden, in the name of community. But is it an injustice to forbid the transactions that generate those inequalities? Do the relevant prohibitions merely define the terms within which justice will operate, or do they sometimes (justifiably?) contradict justice? I do not know the answer to that question.”
II. The Trip's Principles -
“Market socialism does not fully satisfy socialist standards of distributive justice, but it scores far better by those standards than market capitalism does, and is therefore an eminently worthwhile project, from a socialist point of view.”
IV. Is the Ideal Feasible?
G. A. Cohen on Knowledge
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“II. The Trip's Principles”
I believe that certain inequalities that cannot be forbidden in the name of socialist equality of opportunity should nevertheless be forbidden, in the name of community. But is it an injustice to forbid the transactions that generate those inequalities? Do the relevant prohibitions merely define the terms within which justice will operate, or do they sometimes (justifiably?) contradict justice? I -
“III. Is the Ideal Desirable?”
I continue to find appealing the sentiment of a left-wing song that I learned in my childhood, which begins as follows: "If we should consider each other, a neighbor, a friend, or a brother, it could be a wonderful, wonderful world, it could be a wonderful world. -
“IV. Is the Ideal Feasible?”
Whereas many socialists have recently put their faith in market socialism, nineteenth-century socialists were, by contrast, for the most part opposed to market organization of economic life. The mainstream socialist pioneers favored something that they thought would be far superior, to wit, comprehensive central planning, which, it was hoped, could realize the socialist ideal of a truly sharing so -
“IV. Is the Ideal Feasible?”
Market socialism does not fully satisfy socialist standards of distributive justice, but it scores far better by those standards than market capitalism does, and is therefore an eminently worthwhile project, from a socialist point of view. -
“IV. Is the Ideal Feasible?”
The technology for using base motives to productive economic effect is reasonably well understood. Indeed, the history of the twentieth century encourages the thought that the easiest way to generate productivity in a modern society is by nourishing the motives of which I spoke earlier, namely, those of greed and fear. But we should never forget that greed and fear are repugnant motives. Who would -
“IV. Is the Ideal Feasible?”
Certain contemporary overenthusiastic market socialists tend, contrariwise, to forget that the market is intrinsically repugnant, because they are blinded by their belated discovery of the market's instrumental value. It is the genius of the market that it (1) recruits low-grade motives to (2) desirable ends; but (3) it also produces undesirable effects, including significant unjust inequality. In
G. A. Cohen on Love
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“I continue to find appealing the sentiment of a left-wing song that I learned in my childhood, which begins as follows: "If we should consider each other, a neighbor, a friend, or a brother, it could be a wonderful, wonderful world, it could be a wonderful world.”
III. Is the Ideal Desirable?
G. A. Cohen on Politics
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Attributed to G. A. Cohen:
“Marx's theory of history can and should be defended in plain language.”
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Attributed to G. A. Cohen:
“Capitalism is incompatible with the community we owe one another.”
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Attributed to G. A. Cohen:
“The personal is political; the political is also personal.”