G. A. Cohen

G. A. Cohen FBA
Cohen in 1986
Born	Gerald Allan Cohen (1941-04-14)14 April 1941 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died	5 August 2009(2009-08-05) (aged 68) Oxford, England
Other names	Jerry Cohen
Spouses	Margaret Pearce ​ ​ (m. 1965; div. 1996)​ Michèle Jacottet ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	3
Academic background
Alma mater	McGill University New College, Oxford
Academic advisors	Gilbert Ryle[1]
Influences	Louis Althusser Isaiah Berlin Karl Marx John Rawls Gilbert Ryle
Academic work
Discipline	Philosophy
Sub-discipline	Political philosophy ethics philosophy of history social theory
School or tradition	Analytical Marxism left-libertarianism[2] egalitarianism
Institutions	University College, London All Souls College, Oxford
Doctoral students	Cécile Fabre Will Kymlicka Michael Otsuka Seana Shiffrin
Notable students	Simon Caney Jonathan Wolff
Notable works	Karl Marx's Theory of History (1978)[3]
Notable ideas	Distinction between a strict and lax interpretation of the difference principle[4] egalitarian ethos[5]
Influenced	Alan Carter Will Kymlicka John McMurtry Larry Temkin Michael Otsuka John Roemer Euclid Tsakalotos Jonathan Wolff

Gerald Allan Cohen FBA (/ˈkoʊən/ KOH-ən; 14 April 1941 – 5 August 2009) was a Canadian political philosopher who held the positions of Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, University College London and Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, All Souls College, Oxford. He was known for his work on Marxism, and later, egalitarianism and distributive justice in normative political philosophy.

Born into an ethnically Jewish but "militantly anti-religious" and communist family in Montreal, Quebec, on 14 April 1941,^[6][7] Cohen was educated at the Morris Winchevsky School, Strathcona Academy, and Outremont High School.^[8] He then attended McGill University, obtaining a BA in philosophy and political science, and the University of Oxford, where he studied under Gilbert Ryle (and was also taught by Isaiah Berlin) and obtained a BPhil in philosophy.^[7][9]

Cohen was 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.^[10] Several of his students, such as Christopher Bertram, Simon Caney, Alan Carter, Cécile Fabre, Will Kymlicka, John McMurtry, David Leopold, Michael Otsuka, Seana Shiffrin, and Jonathan Wolff went on to be important moral and political philosophers. He retired from the Chichele chair in 2008. At the time of his death, he was a visiting Quain Professor of Jurisprudence at UCL Faculty of Laws.^[11][12]

Cohen was a proponent of analytical Marxism^[13][14] and a founding member of the September Group. His 1978 work Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence defends an interpretation of Karl Marx's historical materialism its critics often call technological determinism.^[15] In Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality, Cohen offers an extensive moral argument in favour of socialism, contrasting his views with those of John Rawls and Robert Nozick by articulating an extensive critique of the Lockean principle of self-ownership as well as the use of that principle to defend right as well as left-libertarianism. In If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? (which covers the topic of his Gifford Lectures), Cohen addresses the question of what egalitarian political principles imply for the personal behaviour of those who hold them.

Cohen was known for his flamboyant style during philosophical debates. According to his best friend, the philosopher Gerald Dworkin, "Nothing was too inappropriate, private, bizarre, or embarrassing to be suddenly brought into the conversation".^[16]

In 1965, Cohen married Margaret Pearce; they had three children and divorced in 1996.^[10] Three years later, he married Michèle Jacottet.^[10] He personally abjured technology, a stance he called "technological conservatism"; Michèle answered all his email.

Cohen was close friends with Marxist political philosopher Marshall Berman.

On 5 August 2009, Cohen died from a stroke at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, aged 68.^[10]

• "Marx and Locke on Land and Labour" Proceedings of the British Academy 71, 1985 (1986)
• Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence (1978, 2000)
• History, Labour, and Freedom (1988)
• "Incentives, Inequality, and Community" The Tanner Lectures On Human Values, Delivered at Stanford University May 21, 23, 1991
• Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1995. ISBN 978-0-5214-7174-9. OCLC 612482692.
• If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? (2000)
• "Expensive Taste Rides Again," in: Ronald Dworkin and his Critics, with replies by Dworkin (2004)
• Rescuing Justice and Equality (2008)
• Why Not Socialism? (2009) ^[17]
• On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice, and Other Essays in Political Philosophy (2011)^[18]
• Finding Oneself in the Other (2012)
• Lectures on the History of Moral and Political Philosophy (2013)

• Luck egalitarianism

• Wolff, Jonathan (2011). "Gerald Allan Cohen 1941–2009" (PDF). Proceedings of the British Academy. 172: 49–67. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
• O'Grady, Jane (10 August 2009). "GA Cohen". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
• Corlett. J. Angelo (ed.) The Journal of Ethics Vol. 14, No. 3/4, Devoted to G. A. Cohen (Sept/Dec 2010) JSTOR i40041780
• Sypnowich, Christine (ed.) The Egalitarian Conscience: Essays in Honour of G. A. Cohen (2006) doi:10.1093/0199281688.001.0001
• Tomey, Simon (2012), "An Interview with Jerry Cohen", in Browning, Gary; Dimova-Cookson, Maria; Prokhovnik, Raia (eds.), Dialogues with Contemporary Political Theorists, Houndsmill, Basingstoke, Hampshire New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 74–85, doi:10.1057/9781137271297_5, ISBN 978-0-230-30305-8
• Vrousalis, Nicholas (24 September 2015). The Political Philosophy of G.A. Cohen. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4725-3270-1.

Wikiquote has quotations related to G. A. Cohen.

• "Self-Ownership, History and Socialism: An Interview with G.A. Cohen" originally in Imprints: vol. 1 no.1 (June 1996).
• "G.A. Cohen on Inequality of Wealth" Philosophy Bites audio interview (2007)
• Cohen "Against Capitalism" on YouTube, episode of Opinions (1986)
• 2010 All Souls College Commemoration of Gerald (Jerry) Allan Cohen with addresses from Professors Philippe Van Parijs, John Roemer, Myles Burnyeat and Timothy Scanlon, and a family tribute from Jerry's son Gideon Cohen.