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If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich?
If You're an Egalitarian How Come You're So Rich Author:G. A. Cohen This book presents G. A. Cohen's Gifford Lectures, delivered at the University of Edinburgh in 1996. Focusing on Marxism and Rawlsian liberalism, Cohen draws a connection between these thought systems and the choices that shape a person's life. In the case of Marxism, the relevant life experience is his own: a communist upbringing in the 1940s i... more »n Montreal, which induced a belief in a strongly socialist egalitarian doctrine. In the case of Rawlsian liberalism, Cohen then looks to people's lives in general to argue that egalitarian justice is not, as Rawlsian doctrine teaches, only a matter of rules that define the structure of society, but also a matter of personal attitude. "This is an unusual book, a remarkably successful blend of autobiography, intellectual history and moral philosophy that reflects the author's distinctive outlook and background … [It] presents, I believe, the most important contemporary challenge to the egalitarian form of liberalism … The questions he asks are the ones we should all be worrying about." —Thomas Nagel, Times Literary Supplement "Most thinkers seem to have taken it for granted that you could be rich or sincerely egalitarian but not both. Like a good philosopher, Cohen wants arguments why not. He examines several, without reaching a firm conclusion, keen above all to provoke debate." —Economist« less