In his book Why Not Socialism? G.A. Cohen discusses a situation in which he “must
take the bus” (p. 36). This example is meant to illustrate Cohen’s “Principle of
Community.” Write a paper (no more that 1500 words, double spaced, 12pt font)
that explains and evaluates Cohen’s principle of community with regard to Rawls’
difference principle and Nozick’s theory of entitlement.
Your paper must address the following points:
1. Explain what Cohen’s “Principle of Community” is and why it is important to the
case he is making for socialism.
2. Give your own example of a situation like Cohen’s bus example in which there isa lack of community between two people (you can use your own experience or make it up).
3. Say why, for Cohen, your example of a lack of community would support his
argument for socialism as a way to address this situation.
4. Say what you think Rawls might say about how his difference principle could (or
could not) address your example of a lack of community.
5. Say what you think Nozick could say about how his entitlement theory would (or
would not) address the lack of community in your example.
6. Say which philosopher you agree with and why.
Please include in your paper a quotation from each of the three philosophers from
the assigned readings and provide the reference for that citation.
Don’t forget to provide page numbers for your references. I do not care what
system of referencing you use, so long as you provide a way for the reader of your
paper to look up the quotation that you give.
Some notes from myself:
The “assigned readings” are attached as images below. You do not need to do a title page nor citation page, you only need to cite in-text citations. Just do one quote for each philopsopher attached below and then cite those with author name and page number, very simple. Also, you can rectify paragraphs as you wish, if you want to do a paragraph for each number that could work, or you could break them up even more.
