If you look at my two recent blog entries on "l'affaire Flew", you will see that the first spells the philosopher's name Anthony Flew and the second Antony Flew. Which is correct? I'm pretty sure that the answer is Antony Flew, but it's by no means as clear as it should be. First, that unreliable but influential yardstick - the Google hit count - gives Anthony 36,300 and Antony 32,800. (Curiously there are 618 pages that include both forms!) How about publications? Amazon lists his books under both names, but I assumed that this was simply data entry error. But then I consulted my bookshelf, and found both forms!
Perhaps we should simply use the construction which appears in much of his professional vita: A. G. N. Flew (or even AGN Flew).
Posted by geoff2 at December 19, 2004 10:00 AMAntony / Anthony -
when I went to his lectures, it was always the former ... :-)
Posted by: John at December 19, 2004 02:06 PMI posted this below the original blog, but wanted it to be a bit 'fresher', too.
I just today heard about this, and out of curiosity did some research.
The original A.P. wire mentions Flew's admission came during a forum sponsored by Ron Abraham Varghese's Institute for Metascientific Research. I Googled this Institute since I expect a 'research institute', particularly one dedicated to metascience (whatever THAT is!), to have a homepage. No homepage. However, google does link to a page (http://www.thewonderoftheworld.com/newsrelease-flew.php) that has a blurb from Varghese, parts of which turn up in the A.P. news articles.
I noticed several curiosities in this article. First off, this forum sponsored by IMR took place 'earlier this year', dated, by various other articles, as May. Now why, if this is such big news now, did it take SIX MONTHS to hit the papers?
The answer can be found by going up a directory in the link I posted above. It turns out that http://www.thewonderoftheworld.com is the homepage for Verghese's newest book, 'The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God'. Interesting, isn't it, that this news, which happened at a forum for the Institute for Metascientific Research is not posted on IMR's homepage (since they don't have one), but on the homepage for the Institute's founder's newest book?
The 'news' that Flew, a man whom Varghese describes as the "World's Most Famous Atheist", now believes in God, half a year after the supposed event and two weeks before Christmas, and the tie-in with Varghese's book are no coincidence. This 'news' is nothing more than a shameful ploy to sell more copies during the holiday shopping season.
Posted by: RC at December 20, 2004 11:12 PMSe você existe, porquê Deus não ?
Posted by: mauricio at May 29, 2005 11:23 PMAcording to Google, the last comment in Portuguese translates to English as "If you exist, reason God not?" My standard response to this is to ask the questioner to define what they mean by "God", since the word means so many things to different people. Moreover people have an unfortunate habit of equivocating, of arguing for one concept of God (say, prime mover, or source of moral truth) and then assuming that this supports a different or broader concept (say, the God of one of the major religions). Of course it doesn't.
Posted by: Geoff Arnold at May 30, 2005 12:24 AM