Antony Flew Obituary | World News | the Guardian

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Antony Flew obituary Humean philosopher and atheist who ultimately came tobelieve in intelligent design

Piers Bennguardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 April 2010 19.04 BST

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Antony Flew's conservatism had a libertarian streak

The chief intellectual influence on the philosopher Antony Flew, who has died

Antony Flew obituary | World news | The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/14/anthony-flew-obituary/print

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aged 87, was the leading Enlightenment figure David Hume, whom hefollowed both in his empiricist critique of natural theology and also, to someextent, his political sympathies. His second book, Hume's Philosophy of Belief (1961), was a major contribution to Hume scholarship.

It was preceded by A New Approach to Psychical Research (1953). For Flew,the language and logic approach of the analytical philosopher did not precludeexamination of the most speculative questions. However, his last book, ThereIs a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind (withRoy Abraham Varghese, 2007), pointed to the change in his outlook over thelast decade, undercutting the position he had maintained while holdinguniversity posts in England, Scotland and North America.

Flew had become well known to a generation of students as an official atheistphilosopher, much to the chagrin of his father, a Methodist minister, who issaid to have prayed for him every day. In an early, seminal essay, Theology and Falsification (1950), Flew tried to show that the hypothesis of an almighty and loving God was unfalsifiable and therefore empty. He claimed the"endemic evil" in theology was that, however terrible the world, religious folk continued to believe in an all-powerful, benevolent deity. For them, no horror

was, even in principle, allowed to count against this. But then, how could there be meaningful evidence for God's existence? Thus, theism suffered a "death by a thousand qualifications".

These ideas were developed in God and Philosophy (1966), which containedan attempted demolition of revelation, and particularly miracles.


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Kingswood school, Bath. During the second world war, he studied Japanese atthe School of Oriental and African Studies in London and did intelligence

work with the RAF. His study of classics at St John's College, Oxford, includedclassical philosophy, and contact with the Christian apologist CS Lewis helpedhim maintain his interest in the philosophy of religion, despite the loss of hisown faith during his teens. He taught briefly at Christ Church (1949-50), and,after a stint at Aberdeen (1950-54), was one of the pioneers who went to theUniversity College of North Staffordshire (now Keele), staying as professor of philosophy until 1971. After a year at the University of Calgary, Alberta(1972-73), he became professor at Reading University, with part-timeappointments at York University, Toronto, and Bowling Green StateUniversity, Ohio, after his retirement as emeritus professor in 1983.

Flew's work was partly influenced by his early teachers, in particular GilbertRyle. His longstanding humanism was reflected in his involvement withorganisations such as the Rationalist Press Association. He had varioushobbyhorses, and many found him obsessional. He detested the progressive,egalitarian ethos of the late 1960s and 70s, supported the cold war andlamented the state of education.

A former colleague at Keele described how he was once expressly forbiddenfrom turning his seminars into political rallies. In the 1970s he wrote indefence of an American psychologist, Arthur Jensen, who had been accused of racism for claiming that genetic factors might partially account for IQdifferences between black and white people. Flew opposed racism but often


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wrote condemning the intolerant and illogical features that he saw in muchanti-racist and multicultural ideology. Paradoxically, much of what hecourageously said then has now become fairly respectable.

Many former colleagues and students remembered him with great respect.

One acknowledged him as having high principles and high standards, alwaysfollowing arguments where they led him. Another, then a novice lecturer atKeele, noted his helpfulness, in spite of political differences. A former studentrecalled how, in 1962, he boomed at a bemused philosophy class that "sex ... isa very dangerous thing", fearing that it would interfere with studying. But his

views on abortion and homosexual law reform were liberal, and he wasa trenchant critic of the Roman Catholic church's teaching on contraception.

Indeed his conservatism had a strongly libertarian streak, though perhaps helater regretted some of the resulting social effects. He was also a passionateopponent of European integration, proudly declaring himself a "subject of HerMajesty, not a citizen of Europe".

His dogged pursuit of reason to reach truth, and his willingness to change hismind (as well as altering his beliefs about God, in his early youth he had

briefly been a communist sympathiser before becoming a Conservative)marked him out as having a deep integrity and innocence. Moreover, he hadan excellent reputation as a teacher. Old-fashioned to the last, he was one of ageneration at odds with the climate of bureaucracy, managerialism, "researchassessment" and audits now besetting the university world.


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Flew was fond of walking, climbing and, according to Who's Who, housemaintenance. He is survived by his wife, Annis, whom he married in 1952, andtwo daughters.

Francis Beckett writes: For students brought up to accept without

question the assertions of ministers of religion, or inclined to be taken in by the mystics of the 1960s or 70s, or tempted by Marxist historicism, a session

with Tony Flew was always a little like having a bucket of ice-cold waterthrown over you. He had a grand contempt for vague, metaphysicalstatements, and loved stripping arguments down to their skeletons. "Can youhit it with a hammer?" he would ask when confronted with a particularly nebulous concept.

When Flew deserted a lifetime's atheism at the age of 81, he ought, in RichardDawkins's view, to have found a more respectable argument to cling to thanthat of intelligent design, and of course Dawkins is right. But Flew enabled meto abandon the faith of the priests who educated me while understanding whatI was doing, and therefore not being frightened of it. I, for one, will always begrateful to him. Antony Garrard Newton Flew, philosopher, born 11 February 1923; died 8 April 2010


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