On Cohen’s Defence To Marx’s Theory Of History

G· A· Cohen (Gerald Allan Cohen,1941-2009) is a famous marxist incontemporary society, and he is the founder and the mainly representative figure ofanalytical Marxism①.Since the1960s to80s, in nearly30years, Cohen persevered indefending for Marx’s theory of history, which once had a great impact in thetheoretical circle.Cohen’s defense for Marx’s historical theory mainly includes three aspects: theestablishment of functional explanation method, the reconstruction and clarifying ofthe basic concepts, to demonstrate the basic propositions by discussing. So the thesis’swriting logical is also the same as Cohen’s defense for Marx’s historical theory. Thethesis includes four parts: the introduction part of this thesis mainly described thetheoretical and realistic significance of this research, the general research situationabout this issue at home and abroad, research methods and innovation of this article.The first chapter mainly introduces the background and the subjective reasons ofCohen’s defending for Marx’s theory of histoy, which includes background of thetimes, theoretical background, family background, education environment and otherfactors. The second chapter is the main partbody of the thesis, which mainly introducedthe logical train and mainly content of Cohen’s defense for Marx’s historical theory,which including the declaration of the function explain method(what is functionalexplanation and why Mr Cohen said it’s the main explanation method of Marx’s theoryof historical), the clarification and reconstruction of the basic concepts andinterpretation of basic proposition of Marx’s history theory. Wherein, the interpretationof functional explanation is Cohen’s innovation, and it’s the part which showing anunique feature. The third part is mainly to evaluat Cohen’s defense, which includes twoaspects: the positive contributions and limitations.Carding and elaborating Cohen’s defense for Marx’s historical theory in a systematic way will help us to grasp the main content of this thought more accurately,so as to make a more objective evaluation to the idea. All of that is useful for us tohave a more comprehensive understanding of Marx’s theory, and which help us touphold and develop Marx’s history theory.