G. A. Cohen’s political philosophy thoughts: the third interview with Pro. David Leopold

Abstract

This academic interview concentrates on exploring G.A.Cohen’s view on the subject matters in the realm of political philosophy such as freedom, equality and social justice. Briefly speaking, the interview aims to: (1) explain how G.A.Cohen turns to examine the normative claims from the concern of historical materiamlism, (2) make sense of Cohen’s specific arguments on political philosophy in his series of books and journals, (3) analyze which thoughts are still on the transitional account of Marxism philosophy, which have been developed by means of Analytical Marxism. Hence this interview could be divided into three parts. Part one is from historical materialism to political philosophy; Part two is making sense of Cohen’s political philosophy thoughts, according to his critical arguments on Berlin, Nozick and Rawls, this section concentrates on Cohen’s view of freedom, equality and justice in his relative works such as Self-ownership, freedom and equality, If you’re an egalitarian, how come you’re so rich? On the currency of egalitarian justice, and other essays in political philosophy. We will try to make sense of his core ideas and explore why he is concerned with these political philosophy issues. Part three is rethinking on Analytical Marxism, which mainly focuses on how to appraise Cohen’s view of political philosophy and his academic contribution to making sense of Marx and Marxism.