34 Facts About Antony Flew

Antony Garrard Newton Flew was an English philosopher.

For much of his career Antony Flew was an advocate of atheism, arguing that one should presuppose atheism until empirical evidence suggesting the existence of a God surfaces.

Antony Flew criticised the idea of life after death, the free will defence to the problem of evil, and the meaningfulness of the concept of God.

Antony Flew developed the No true Scotsman fallacy, and debated retrocausality with Michael Dummett.

Antony Flew stated that in keeping his lifelong commitment to go where the evidence leads, he now believed in the existence of a God.

An article in The New York Times Magazine alleged that Antony Flew's intellect had declined due to senility, and that the book was primarily the work of Varghese; Antony Flew himself specifically denied this, stating that the book represented his views; although he acknowledged that due to his age Varghese had done most of the actual work of writing the book.

Antony Flew, the son of Methodist minister and theologian Robert Newton Flew and his wife Winifred nee Garrard, was born in London.

Antony Flew was educated at St Faith's School, Cambridge followed by Kingswood School, Bath.

Antony Flew is said to have concluded by the age of 15 that there was no God.

Antony Flew won the John Locke Scholarship in Mental Philosophy in the following year.

Antony Flew was a graduate student of Gilbert Ryle, prominent in ordinary language philosophy.

Politically, Antony Flew was a right-wing libertarian-leaning conservative which opposed to immigration, egalitarianism, and the European Union, and wrote articles for The Journal of Libertarian Studies.

Antony Flew's name appears on letterheads into 1992 as a vice-president of the Conservative Monday Club, and he held the same position in the Western Goals Institute.

Antony Flew was one of the signatories to a letter in The Times along with Lord Sudeley, Sir Alfred Sherman, and Dr Harvey Ward, on behalf of the institute, "applauding Alfredo Cristiani's statesmanship" and calling for his government's success in defeating the Cuban and Nicaraguan-backed communist FMLN in El Salvador.

Antony Flew criticised several of the other philosophical arguments for God's existence.

Antony Flew concluded that the ontological argument in particular failed because it is based on the premise that the concept of Being can be derived from the concept of Goodness.

Antony Flew was critical of the idea of life after death and the free will defence to the problem of evil.

Antony Flew died on 8 April 2010, while nursed in an extended care facility in Reading, England, suffering from dementia.

Antony Flew criticised the idea of life after death, the free will defence to the problem of evil, and the meaningfulness of the concept of God.

On several occasions, starting in 2001, rumors circulated claiming that Antony Flew had converted from atheism to Deism; Antony Flew denied these rumours on the Secular Web website.

Antony Flew characterized his position as that of atheism standing in tension with several huge question marks.

Antony Flew stated that in keeping his lifelong commitment to go where the evidence leads, he now believed in the existence of a God.

Antony Flew denied that there was any truth to the rumours of 2001 and 2003 that he had converted to Christianity.

The preface of God and Philosophy states that the publisher and Antony Flew went through a total of four versions before coming up with one that satisfied them both.

In late 2006, Antony Flew joined 11 other academics in urging the British government to teach intelligent design in the state schools.

In 2007, Antony Flew published a book titled There is a God, which was listed as having Roy Abraham Varghese as its co-author.

Shortly after the book was released, The New York Times Magazine published an article by historian of religion Mark Oppenheimer, who stated that Varghese had been almost entirely responsible for writing the book, and that Antony Flew was in a serious state of mental decline, having great difficulty remembering key figures, ideas, and events relating to the debate covered in the book.

Antony Flew's book praises several philosophers, but Flew failed to remember their work during Oppenheimer's interview.

Antony Flew came to the same conclusion as Oppenheimer, and stated that "Far from strengthening the case for the existence of God, [the book] rather weakens the case for the existence of Antony Flew".

In June 2008, Antony Flew stated his position , in a letter to a fellow of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship.

On 11 May 2006, Antony Flew accepted the second "Phillip E Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth" from Biola University.

When informed of his award, Antony Flew remarked, "In light of my work and publications in this area and the criticism I've received for changing my position, I appreciate receiving this award".

Antony Flew was an honorary associate of the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists and a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.

In 1985, Antony Flew was awarded the In Praise of Reason Award the highest honor the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry awards.