G. A. Cohen (1941–2009)

Cohen really is a true believer. At least on a small scale, he really does make good case for socialism. Where it breaks down is really anything applied to a larger scale without a dispute mechanism (i.e. markets). I found his objection to market socialism in particular more telling than objectionable as he seems to really want all participants in a socialist system to be true believers too. At that point, I think he's completely lost the plot as we're now dealing with ideologues as the reason why the system works rather than a self-correcting feature of the system itself (i.e. even capitalism would work if it was "true" capitalism and not corrupted by cronyism and regulatory capture, etc.).… (more)

My dad always bought us 3 of each toy, so I never had to share anything and now I’m so possessive over my shit that that first paragraph made me sick. I’m not saying I'm a capitalist; I don’t know enough about life except to assume that there’s no way to make it fair or good.

0 stars because it’s short and simple, mostly easy to understand for dummies like me, but I’m not sure what I got out of it except that socialism seems like a nightmare for introverts. Why is this high school essay available in hardback? It addresses nothing and I've learned nothing, even though I was practically a blank slate going in.… (more)

How many analytic philosophical journal articles deserve to be sold on their own as a book? None, not even this one. On the other hand, it's a beautiful little object, and Cohen was such a wonderful human being, and so smart, that I'm happy to have contributed something to whoever he decided to leave his copy rights to. This won't convince anyone that socialism is plausible, or even that it's preferable, at least in the short term. But perhaps some college kid somewhere will read it, and it will slowly worm its way into his brain, and he'll become a slightly better person. Maybe.… (more)