G. A. Cohen

Gerald Allen "Jerry" Cohen, (born 1941) is the Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All Souls College, Oxford. Educated at McGill University, Canada (BA, politics) and the University of Oxford (BPhil, philosophy).

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.

Known as a proponent of Analytical Marxism and a member of the September Group, Cohen's 1978 work Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence defends an old-fashioned interpretation of Marx's historical materialism often referred to as economic determinism or technological determinism by its critics. In Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality, Cohen attempts to make a moral argument in favour of socialism, contrasting his views with those of John Rawls and Robert Nozick and making an extensive critque of the Lockean principle of self-ownership. In If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? Cohen addresses the question of what egalitarian political principles imply for the personal behavior of those who subscribe to them.

See also

• Jon Elster
• John Roemer

Works

• Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defense (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)