In this stimulating work of political philosophy, acclaimed philosopher G. A. Cohen sets out to rescue the egalitarian thesis that in a society in which distributive justice prevails, people's material prospects are roughly equal. Arguing against the Rawlsian version of a just society, Cohen demonstrates that distributive justice does not tolerate deep inequality.In the course of providing a deep and sophisticated critique of Rawls' theory of justice, Cohen demonstrates that questions of distributive justice arise not only for the state but also for people in their daily lives. The right rules for the macro scale of public institutions and policies also apply, with suitable adjustments, to the micro level of individual decision-making.Cohen also charges Rawls' constructivism with systematically conflating the concept of justice with other concepts. Within the Rawlsian architectonic, justice is not distinguished either from other values or from optimal rules of social regulation. The elimination of those conflations brings justice closer to equality.

科恩(G．A．Cohen，1941—2009)，牛津大學萬靈學院研究員、齊切利社會與政治理論教授，分析的馬剋思主義學派的開創者和旗手。代錶作：《卡爾·馬剋思的曆史理論：一個辯護》(1978年)、《曆史、勞動和自由：來自馬剋思的論題》(1988年)、《自我所有、自由和平等》(1995年)、《如果你是平等主義者，為何如此富有?》(2000年)、《拯救正義與平等》(2008年)、《為什麼不要社會主義?》(2009年)等。 陳偉，男，1973年生，河北邯鄲人，復旦大學哲學學院副教授，哲學博士。目前關注的研究方嚮為現代邏輯與分析的馬剋思主義。代錶作：《功能解釋與唯物史觀》、《分析的馬剋思主義的方法論》、《在馬剋思主義和分析哲學之間》等。