G.A.Cohen’s Reconstruction Of Marx’s Exploitation Criticism Theory And Its Limition

Marx’s exploitation criticism theory is in the prespective of historical materialism,"fromthe real people and the real human activities",aiming at the capitalist mode of production caused by human labor and the existence of human alienation,revealing the possibility and inevitability of capitalist self-criticism and inner transcendence.Through a series of basic concepts like "goods","labor","salary","capital" and real life,in the unity of the theory and reality,Marx foundedtheexploitation criticismtheorybased on the theory of labor value and surplus value.Marx,firmly believes that the most deeply exploited proletariat will eventually overthrow the ruleofcapitalismthrough the proletarian revolution and change the alienation of people,thustruly to achieve the realliberation and freedom and comprehensive development.However,based on the characteristics of labor in the new era,such as the diversification of labor subjects and the decline of the proportion of manual labor,the labor value theory,which is the basis of the exploitation criticism theory,has a new way of interpretin.It is necessary to reexamining the theory of labor value and the essence of exploitation into theory and reality.G.A.Cohen as the analysis of the main founder and important representative of Marxism,also cirticized and opposed the exploitation of capitalism and pursuit the socialist system which represents human equality.Cohen argues that the theory of Marx’s exploitation criticism has two problems: one is not clear enough and rigorous expression leads to the theory itself is flawed;second,it is difficult to play the role of critical capitalist mode of production by having the same theory of self-ownership.In addition,Cohen also believes that historical materialism as Marx’s theoretical basis for the critique of capitalism,the concept is unclear and the logic is not rigorous enough.Cohen,with his good analytical method and functional interpretation method,reconstructs Marx’s historical materialism and exploitation criticism theory,try to defend the Marxist theory in the contemporary rationality and effectiveness.In this paper,through the research on Cohen’s historical materialism and exploitation criticism theory,I find the positive significance of Cohen’s work and its own limitations.Meaning is as follows: to clarify some basic concepts and basic propositions of historical materialism,to a certain extent,to defend the scientific nature of historical materialism and to promote the dissemination of historical materialism in the West.The limitation is that Cohen’s oppositio and negative dialectics and the overall view,who can not really understand the universal law of historical development of human society contained in historical materialism.Cohen’s reconstruction of Marx’s exploitation criticism theory is unseccessful,he does not understand Marx’s theory of labor value and surplus value based on the distinction between labor ability and labor.The basis of Marx’s exploitation criticism theory is attributed to self-ownership lead he away from the position of defense of Marx.The study of Cohen’s reconstruction of Marx’s exploitation criticism theory,point out the shortconings of Cohen’s theory in order to show that Marx’s theory still has important value in today’s world.