From Unilineal to Universal Historical Materialism
Considers the responses of G. A. Cohen (1988) to critics of his effort to construct a Marxist theory that provides historical explanations & predictions with reference to general laws & empirical statements. According to Cohen's theory, societies develop primarily through the evolution of means of production, which determine relations of production in a given society to the extent that individuals are guided to rationally maximize their material advantage. This theory has been criticized for its ignorance of many other values that humans might privilege, ie, those satisfied only by something other than material wealth, & so skew the predictive power of Cohen's theory. It is suggested that Cohen's response to these criticisms is inadequate. In particular, Cohen fails to adequately treat the collective action problem identified by his critics. It is concluded that historical materialism on Cohen's model is untenable; socialists generally would do well to shift their energies away from defending this thesis. 43 References. D. Ryfe
