Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality by G A Cohen

Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality by G A Cohen

In this book G. A. Cohen examines the libertarian principle of self-ownership, which says that each person belongs to himself and therefore owes no service or product to anyone else. This principle is used to defend capitalist inequality, which is said to reflect each person's freedom to do as he wishes with himself. The author argues that self-ownership cannot deliver the freedom it promises to secure, thereby undermining the idea that lovers of freedom should embrace capitalism and the inequality that comes with it. He goes on to show that the standard Marxist condemnation of exploitation implies an endorsement of self-ownership, since, in the Marxist conception, the employer steals from the worker what should belong to her, because she produced it. Thereby a deeply inegalitarian notion has penetrated what is in aspiration an egalitarian theory. Purging that notion from socialist thought, he argues, enables construction of a more consistent egalitarianism.

' … Cohen brings formidable analytical and forensic skills, and the book is an outstanding example of the intellectual gains to be won by clear and rigorous thinking about questions that are usually blanketed by idealogical fog' David Miller, London Review of Books
' … his book stands out among the many studies of electorial history …'. Anarchist Studies

Cohen, G. A.: - G. A. Cohen was Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford University.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521471749
ISBN 10	0521471745
Title	Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality
Author	G A Cohen
Series	Studies In Marxism And Social Theory
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	1995-10-26
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.