Anti-Libertarianism: Markets, Philosophy, and Myth (Routledge 1994):

This book is a critique of the assertively right-wing, pro-free market ‘libertarian’ philosophy by which so much political thought was dominated during the 1980s and 90s. As I put it in the opening chapter, my purpose was to ‘outline that doctrine’s main arguments and to expose its shaky structure to public view’.

Critics said:  ‘a powerful and compelling critique’ (Res Publica); ‘spirited, intelligent and continually engaging’ (International Journal of Philosophical Studies);  ‘a withering critique of the “invisible-handism” that seduced the 1980s. (New Statesman). 

Free Speech (Routledge 1998)

‘Free Speech’ is a subject on which people tend to pontificate rather than reflect in a critical manner. This book is intended as an antidote to that tendency. In it, I outline and analyse in detail the main ways in which philosophers have interpreted such conceptions’ as ‘free speech’ and ‘freedom of expression.

Critics said: ‘Even if the literature were more extensive, Alan Haworth’s Free Speech would be a welcome addition to it, but, especially under the circumstances, this is a very important contribution indeed’. (Mind)

(Incidentally, although it was published sometime ago, Free Speech is still referred to in the philosophical literature. I am proposing to write a short(ish) piece on the subject; something which will be non-technical and available to the public at large, not only to philosophers. Any editors who might be interested, please let me know.)

Understanding the Political Philosophers: From Ancient to Modern Times (Routledge 2004 & 2012)

My publishers, Routledge, suggested that I write an up-to-date introduction to the work of the major political philosophers of the western tradition. This book is a response to that suggestion. In it, I conduct a critique of the arguments advanced by those philosophers, while at the same time setting them within the context of events by which they were motivated to write.  

Critics said: ‘It is my view that this book will be of interest to a very wide audience. (Essays in Philosophy); ‘it is unusual to become so absorbed in the text as to find oneself reading it for pure intellectual pleasure. This is what happened when I read Alan Haworth’s engaging book. (Times Higher Education Supplement.)

 

Free Speech: All that Matters  (Hodder and Stoughton 2015)

In this book,  I take up some of the themes I developed in my earlier book on free speech.  In the introduction I state that, on the subject of free speech, the arguments have tended to remain unappreciated, mainly because they are sometimes expressed in terms so technical that they can intimidate the general reader‘. In the book, I set out to correct the situation. 

Note: The book is intended for the non-specialist reader, and it initially formed part of a series , similar to Oxford’s ‘Very Short Introduction’ series. The series appears to have drifted into invisibility and my book along with it. That’s a pity, because I think readers would enjoy the book It’s still available though..

Totalitarianism and Philosophy (Routledge 2020)

In the 1930s, when Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin first came to power, their regimes were considered by many to represent a new and perplexing phenomenon. They were labelled ‘totalitarian’. This raises the question of whether the phenomenon was genuinely new, or whether ‘totalitarianism’ was just a new word for something very old indeed, namely tyranny. In this book, the question is explored from a number of philosophical angles. There are chapters on the work of the totalitarian philosophers, Giovanni Gentile and Carl Schmitt, the idea of ‘totalitarianism by other means’ as represented in dystopian fiction, and the work of Hannah Arendt. The book is a contribution to the Routledge Focus on Philosophy series

Political Philosophy After 1945 (Routledge 2023)

By the mid-twentieth century, interest in political philosophy had dwindled, with one writer even pronouncing the subject ‘dead’. Things were to change in 1971, with the publication of John Rawls’s  A Theory of Justice. The story didn’t end there, however. In this book, I begin with the question of why the subject should have become marginalised by mainstream philosophical movements such as logical positivism and the ‘ordinary language’ philosophy inspired by Wittgenstein. Subsequent chapters compare and contrast Rawls’s contribution with that of other philosophers from across the political spectrum. There are in-depth accounts of works by Hannah Arendt and Alasdair MacIntyre, and an evaluation of the claim that contemporary political philosophy exemplifies the pursuit of a moribund ‘Enlightenment Project’.