Inequality In Cohens, By G. A. Cohen

put in effort and made something out of it all, they didn’t and that’s all on them, not myself or the society.

3a. In G. A, Cohens, Where the action is: On the site of distributive justice, he brings up several logical points of why he opposes the Rawlsian argument and the difference principle. The difference principle says, “inequalities are just if and only if they are necessary to make the worst off people in society better off than they would have otherwise been.” Cohen disagrees with Rawls on the matter of which inequalities pass the test for justifying inequality that it sets and about how much inequality passes the test. According to Rawls, the political stance of a society and what makes it just depends upon institutions and institutions

A society requires the justice of the institutions and the right and duties of the people inside that society. Cohen believes the principles of justice apply not only to society’s instituted rules but also to the choices that individuals make within said rules. Cohen also states for a society to be just the institutions have to be legally coercive structures, otherwise the society is not deemed as just. Unqualified equality must also be a part of a just society. If unqualified equality is not present in a society, there is no just society. According to the difference principle, justice requires (virtually) unqualified equality as opposed to the deep inequalities in which Rawls thinks justice to be consistent. Rawls believe that talented people will only produce more if they are paid more than the ordinary. The higher wages incentivize them to do work that benefits society. But, Cohen believes none of this makes sense if the talented people affirm the difference principle. If they believe that inequalities are so unjust, then why would they demand higher wages for doing something that they know will help the society all together. Cohen also believes that a society

According to the basic structure, the principles of justice govern only the basic structure of a just society. Cohen believes this proposition is unsustainable. Proposition five of the basic structure objection states that citizens in a just society may adhere to the difference principle whatever their choices may be within the structure it determines, and, in particular, even if their economic choices are entirely acquisitive. Cohen tends to believe that proposition five is inconsistent with many Rawlsian statements about the relationship between citizens and principles of justice in a just society. The first objection Cohen offers against the basic structure objection is Fraternity. According to Rawls society displays fraternity. Rawls believe a society’s citizens do not want to have greater advantages unless it advances the people who are less well off. He refers to a family with members who commonly would not wish to gain until they can do so in ways which furthers the rest of the family. He believes now wanting to act on the difference principle has precisely this consequence. Cohen believes that wanting not to gain unless they can do so in ways that further the interests of the rest of the family is “incompatible with the self interested motivation of market maximizers” which the difference principle does not condemn. Secondly, Rawls brings in dignity. Rawls says that the worst of in a society governed by the difference principle can bear their inferior position