This book is easily the deepest and most sophisticated critical work on Rawls's theory of justice. It brings together several distinct lines of argument that Cohen has been developing over the past two decades. In so doing, it manages to provide both a detailed and intricate critique of Rawls's approach to economic distribution and, at the same time, to articulate and defend a different way ot thinking about the fundamental questions of economic distribution.

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 the "deep inequality"that Rawls is prepared to countenance.

In the course of providing a sophisticated and far-reaching critique of Rawls's theory of justice,Cohen argues 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's 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.

Preface

Introduction

I RESCUING EQUALITY FROM...

 The Incentives Argument

 The Pareto Argument

 The Basic Structure Objection

 The Difference Principle

 The Freedom Objection

II RESCUING JUSTICE FROM...

 The Facts

 Constructivism

 The Publicity Argument

General Appendix: Replies to Critics

Bibliography

Credits

Name Index

Subject Index