G. A. Cohen: Liberty, Justice and Equality

Polity Press, Cambridge, 2024

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'Christine Sypnowich’s impressively well-informed presentation of Jerry Cohen’s exceptional personality and her insightful critical discussion of all key aspects of his work will make readers understand why his unusual combination of radical political views and meticulous prose keeps inspiring so many young philosophers, and not only them.'
Philippe Van Parijs, University of Louvain

'Opening with an engaging biographical account of Cohen’s political and intellectual development, Sypnowich demonstrates how his rigorously analytical quest for the nature of a just society can be structured around a set of tensions – “paradoxes” – with which he so influentially wrestled throughout his life.'
Hillel Steiner FBA, University of Manchester

 

 

Equality Renewed: Justice, Human Flourishing and the Egalitarian Ideal

Routledge, London, 2017; In paperback August 2018

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‘A helpful overview of many central debates in contemporary political philosophy… Sypnowich charts an interesting and perceptive course through the terrain…Equality Renewed will be of interest to a wide audience – including theorists who engage with questions of equality, difference, neutrality and perfectionism – and will be a valuable resource for future debates concerning the role that the state should play in facilitating flourishing.’

Paul Billingham, in Ethics

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‘Sypnowich’s engagement with many of the debates in contemporary political philosophy is outstanding… an excellent piece of contemporary political philosophy. It engages with many interesting debates and very impressively, draws from a range of material… Sypnowich has done an exceptional job stoking the debates that are currently taking place.’

Christopher Riddle, in Philosophy in Review

 

‘The literature on egalitarianism is a crowded one but, in her ambitious and engaging book, Christine Sypnowich is able to carve out a distinctive position that takes human flourishing to be central. She defends her novel ‘egalitarian perfectionism’ by careful engagement with topical issues such as racial justice, gender equality, multiculturalism and liberal neutrality about the good. Equality Renewed is at once an original contribution to egalitarianism and a splendid analysis of the central debates of political philosophy.’

Kok-Chor Tan, University of Pennsylvania

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‘An extensive and illuminating work of political philosophy which … establish[es] flourishing as a distinctive position within the liberal egalitarian framework, and opens up a new chapter for the debates on equality and justice.’

Özer Barış Tunçel, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books

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The Concept of Socialist Law

Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1990; translated into Chinese, 2017

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‘This is much the best account available of the possibility of a socialist legal system.’

Gregory Claeys, American Political Science Review

‘This work is excellent ... It is a must read for anyone interested in ethics, social and political theory, socialist theory and philosophy of law. It is accessible, yet not superficial, and very informative.’
Bruce Wardhaugh, Philosophical Reviews

 

‘Very stimulating…very inventive…admirably clear.’

Michael Menlowe, Philosophical Quarterly

 

‘This is a carefully written and cumulatively impressive discussion of law and socialism which goes a long way towards establishing that “socialist legality” is not necessarily a contradiction in terms.’ Tom Campbell, Times Literary Supplement

 

‘A substantial contribution…exhibits exemplary lucidity.  The originality of Sypnowich’s approach lies in her starting point: the question is a socialist jurisprudence possible? … a considerable achievement; it is comprehensive in its coverage and provides a philosophical account sensitive to the political issues at stake…a thorough and persuasive case for a socialist interest in law.’

Alan Hunt, New Left Review

 

‘The virtue of the book is that it says that socialism needs something more than a dose of liberalism ... It is the implication of Sypnowich’s argument that is important and timely.’
Zenon Bankowski, Times Higher Education Supplement

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‘Late twentieth-century gem, filled to the brim with provocations and perceptive inquiries.’

Matt McManus, Jacobin