Abstract
In his book Why Not Socialism?, G.A. Cohen described several kinds of inequality that would be acceptable under socialism, yet nonetheless harmful to community. I describe another kind of inequality with this property, deriving from the legitimate transmission of preferences and values from parents to children. In the same book, Cohen proposes that the designing of a socialist allocation mechanism is a key problem for socialist theory. I maintain this is less of a problem than he believes. Finally, some thoughts on the “law of motion of socialist ethos” are offered.
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References
Cohen, G.A. 2009. Why Not Socialism? Princeton: Princeton University Press.
McCraw, T. 2007. Prophet of innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and creative destruction. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Roemer, J.E. 2010. Incentive provision and coordination as market functions. Zeitschrift fur Arbeitsmarktforschung (Journal of Labor Research), https://springerlink.metapress.com/content/v500271q8762g805/resource-secured/?target=fulltext.pdf&sid=xbby5e55rht5x045pz1x1t45&sh=springerlink.com.
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I met Jerry Cohen, through correspondence in 1980, when I was reading his Karl Marx’s Theory of History, and while I was writing A General Theory of Exploitation and Class. We had an immediate affinity through “analytical Marxism.” Jerry became my informal tutor in political philosophy from that date on. I owe to him the shift in my interests towards philosophical ones; I have been immensely influenced by his work on Marxism, self-ownership, socialism, and egalitarianism. Alas, he is no longer able to append to this paper the penned marginalia, which for so many years have decorated drafts that I have sent him, and have rescued me from unclear thinking and expression.
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Roemer, J.E. Jerry Cohen’s Why Not Socialism? Some Thoughts. J Ethics 14, 255–262 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-010-9083-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-010-9083-x