Home / Quotes / Quote by Antony Flew

Quote by Antony Flew

“Prior to Flew, major apologies for atheism were those of Enlightenment thinkers (David Hume, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Friedrich Nietzsche). Major philosophers of Flew’s generation who were atheists: W. V. O. Quine and Gilbert Ryle. But none took the step of developing book-length arguments to support their personal beliefs. In later years, atheist philosophers who critically examined and rejected the traditional arguments for God’s existence: Paul Edwards, Wallace Matson, Kai Nielsen, Paul Kurtz, J. L. Mackie, Richard Gale, Michael Martin. But their works did not change the agenda and framework of discussion the way Flew’s innovative publications did.”

Book:There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind

Work

There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind

Browse quotes and source details for this work. more

Author

Antony Flew

Antony Flew was a British philosopher renowned for his work in the philosophy of religion and ethics. He was a leading figure in the analytic philosophy movement and is particularly remembered for his initial belief in the existence of God, which he later renounced. Flew's career spanned several decades, during which he taught at various universities and authored numerous books and articles on philosophy. more

“One way or another, all the bridges between that time n this one have been burned. Time's a reach, too, you know, just like the one that lies between the islands and the mainland, but the only ferry that can cross it is memory, and that's like a ghost-ship - if you want it to disappear, after awhile it will.”

Time Bridge Ferry Dolores Claiborne Ghost Ship Ghostship

Book:Dolores Claiborne

Source: Dolores Claiborne

“the constancy of God in my life is called by other names, so that I quite rightly pass for an atheist”

Atheism Secularism Philosophical Atheism

Book:Derridabase. Circonfessione

Source: Derridabase. Circonfessione

“In Paley's famous illustration, the adaptation of all the parts of the watch to the function, or purpose, of showing the time, is held to be evidence that the watch was specially contrived to that end; on the ground, that the only cause we know of, competent to produce such an effect as a watch which shall keep time, is a contriving intelligence adapting the means directly to that end. Suppose, however, that any one had been able to show that the watch had not been made directly by any person, but that it was the result of the modification of another watch which kept time but poorly; and that this again had proceeded from a structure which could hardly be called a watch at all—seeing that it had no figures on the dial and the hands were rudimentary; and that going back and back in time we came at last to a revolving barrel as the earliest traceable rudiment of the whole fabric. And imagine that it had been possible to show that all these changes had resulted, first, from a tendency of the structure to vary indefinitely; and secondly, from something in the surrounding world which helped all variations in the direction of an accurate time-keeper, and checked all those in other directions; then it is obvious that the force of Paley's argument would be gone. For it would be demonstrated that an apparatus thoroughly well adapted to a particular purpose might be the result of a method of trial and error worked by unintelligent agents, as well as of the direct application of the means appropriate to that end, by an intelligent agent. Now it appears to us that what we have here, for illustration's sake, supposed to be done with the watch, is exactly what the establishment of Darwin's Theory will do for the organic world. For the notion that every organism has been created as it is and launched straight at a purpose, Mr. Darwin substitutes the conception of something which may fairly be termed a method of trial and error. Organisms vary incessantly; of these variations the few meet with surrounding conditions which suit them and thrive; the many are unsuited and become extinguished.”

Science Purpose Natural Design Evolution Evidence Adaptation Variation Superstition Natural Selection Illustration Darwin Charles Darwin Design Argument Watchmaker Argument

Book:Criticism on "The Origin of Species"

Source: Criticism on "The Origin of Species"