Egalitarian Ethos in Gerald Cohen: A Study in the Critique of the Ethical Foundations of John Rawls' Theory of Justice

Abstract

This study examines the concept of the egalitarian ethos in the philosophy of the Canadian–British political thinker Gerald Cohen, considering it as the missing link between political justice and morality. Cohen seeks to reformulate the notion of distributive justice so that it transcends the justice of the “basic structure” of society, as articulated by John Rawls, extending instead to encompass the patterns of consciousness and individual conduct that govern agents’ choices within that structure. Cohen conceives the egalitarian ethos as an internal commitment that guides individuals to refrain from exploiting their natural talents, privileged positions, and social luck in order to generate excessive advantages, and to align their way of life with their normative commitment to equality. The study also addresses Cohen’s critique of Rawls’s theory of justice, particularly what he describes as an “institutional bias” embodied in the Difference Principle, through which inequalities grounded in luck are justified on the basis of economic incentives, while neglecting the role of individual choices in producing inequality. In response, Cohen advances socialism as an alternative horizon, understood primarily as a moral project rather than merely an economic or political one. The study concludes that the egalitarian ethos in Cohen’s philosophy constitutes an indispensable condition for achieving a form of justice that goes beyond liberal compromises between equality and efficiency, by linking institutional arrangements to the reform of patterns of consciousness and behavior among elites and across social groups.