Difference between revisions of "Antony Flew"
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[[Image:Antony Flew.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Professor Antony Flew]]Professor '''Antony Garrard Newton Flew''' (born February 11 1923) is a British philosopher who has been connected with a number of right wing publications and think-tanks. | [[Image:Antony Flew.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Professor Antony Flew]]Professor '''Antony Garrard Newton Flew''' (born February 11 1923) is a British philosopher who has been connected with a number of right wing publications and think-tanks. | ||
| − | == Biography == | + | ==Biography== |
| − | Flew was born in London in 1923, the son of a Methodist minister. He was educated at St. Faith's Preparatory School | + | Flew was born in London in 1923, the son of a Methodist minister Rev. Dr R. N. Flew. He was educated at St. Faith's Preparatory School in Cambridge followed by Kingswood School in Bath. <ref>‘FLEW, Prof. Antony Garrard Newton’, ''Who's Who 2009'', A & C Black, 2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2008</ref> |
| − | + | During the Second World War he studied Japanese at the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]], and was a Royal Air Force intelligence officer. | |
| − | + | After the war, Flew achieved a first class degree in ''Literae Humaniores'' at St John's College, [[Oxford University|Oxford]]. Flew was a graduate student of Gilbert Ryle, and one of the more prominent in a group identified with ordinary language philosophy. | |
| + | |||
| + | He was a Lecturer in Philosophy at Christ Church, Oxford from 1949 to 1950, and followed this with four years as a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, and twenty years as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Keele. Between 1973 and 1983 he was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading, and on his retirement took up a half-time post for a few years at York University, Toronto. <ref>‘FLEW, Prof. Antony Garrard Newton’, ''Who's Who 2009'', A & C Black, 2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2008</ref> | ||
==Political commitments== | ==Political commitments== | ||
Revision as of 16:50, 20 January 2009
Professor Antony Garrard Newton Flew (born February 11 1923) is a British philosopher who has been connected with a number of right wing publications and think-tanks.
Biography
Flew was born in London in 1923, the son of a Methodist minister Rev. Dr R. N. Flew. He was educated at St. Faith's Preparatory School in Cambridge followed by Kingswood School in Bath. [1]
During the Second World War he studied Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and was a Royal Air Force intelligence officer.
After the war, Flew achieved a first class degree in Literae Humaniores at St John's College, Oxford. Flew was a graduate student of Gilbert Ryle, and one of the more prominent in a group identified with ordinary language philosophy.
He was a Lecturer in Philosophy at Christ Church, Oxford from 1949 to 1950, and followed this with four years as a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, and twenty years as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Keele. Between 1973 and 1983 he was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading, and on his retirement took up a half-time post for a few years at York University, Toronto. [2]
Political commitments
Flew has a long history of involvement in conservative politics. He was a member of the study group behind a report published in 1977 by the intelligence connected Institute for the Study of Conflict alleging a Marxist penetration into British academia. [3] Considering the ideological orientation of the study group, The Observer commented that: ‘The study group seems to believe with Professor Hayek and his disciple, Sir Keith Joseph, that true liberty is possible only in a capitalist, free market civilisation.’ [4]
The Times reported the report’s findings that: ‘radical minorities...often disagreed with each other, but they had a common distaste, bordering at times upon sheer hatred for the liberal, tolerant society in which they moved.’ [5] The Times published extracts of the report, but also criticised it as having an ‘alarmist tone which goes beyond his evidence.’ [6]
In the late 1980s Flew became an active vice-president of the Western Goals Institute, a pressure group opposed to immigration and free trade, and supportive of apartheid. Flew was also a committee member of Majority Rights, alongside Ray Honeyford and Tim Janman, MP.
He sits on the management committee of The Freedom Association, and has contributed to Right Now! magazine, the Salisbury Review, and publications of the Libertarian Alliance, the Social Affairs Unit, the Society for Individual Freedom and the Institute of Economic Affairs.
Professor Flew is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.
Notes
- ↑ ‘FLEW, Prof. Antony Garrard Newton’, Who's Who 2009, A & C Black, 2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2008
- ↑ ‘FLEW, Prof. Antony Garrard Newton’, Who's Who 2009, A & C Black, 2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2008
- ↑ ‘Gould report calls for rebuttal of attacks on education in Britain by extreme radicals’, The Times, Wednesday, Sep 21, 1977; pg. 4; Issue 60114; col A
- ↑ Bernard Crick, ‘Red sails on the campus’, The Observer, 25 September 1977
- ↑ 'Marxists attacking education', The Times, Wednesday, Sep 21, 1977; pg. 1; Issue 60114; col E
- ↑ ’The Enemies of Liberty’, The Times, Wednesday, Sep 21, 1977; pg. 15; Issue 60114; col A
