Cohen Has Equality Research

As the founder of Western analytical Marxism, Cohen persisted firmly in defending forMarx’s history theory and the theory of equality. His later academic focus shifted to the studyof normative political philosophy. He enriched and developed Marx’s theory and injected newvitality to it. He stuck to the socialist principle of equality and defended for the value ofequality. He is known as the egalitarian conscience.In order to maintain the equal value of socialism, Cohen debates with Rawls as therepresentative of the left-wing liberalism and Nozick represented libertarianism theoretically.He criticized Rawls’s difference principle, considering that the difference principle did notprove the justice of inequality based on incentive although it makes the most disadvantagedpeople benefit from it and pointed out the difference principle is the subtle and sophisticateddefense for the great inequality existed in the capitalist society. Cohen criticized Nozick’sright view based on the principle of self-ownership. Individual rights are the core of Nozick’stheory. Cohen believed that the principle of self-ownership has a natural attraction though itcannot be completely denied. But after comparison and analogy, it has lost the theoreticalsignificance. Freedom and equality does not exclude under certain conditions. Cohen alsoanalyzed and reconstructed the equality concept of Marx. The Marxist equality theory isbased on solid reality. After material wealth has greatly enriched, all differences disappear.Everyone enjoys the right to self-realization equally. Cohen believed that the fact of the casehas already broken. We have to do hard theoretical work based on normative politicalphilosophy to achieve equality and he thought that we can achieve equality in the affluentsociety. Cohen proposed the concept of equality and advantage and thought that egalitariangoal is to eliminate the influence of brute luck to people. The socialist equality of opportunityhas two fundamental principles: egalitarian principle and the community principle. Peopleliving in a community need to establish an equal, friendly, mutual ethical fashion. An equalsociety is not only desirable but also attainable. It should be said that Cohen’s thought ofequality is radical and relies more on moral role.