As someone who deals with patients with dementia on a daily basis and sees their cognitive decline, I found this story in The New York Times rather pathetic. Anthony Flew, a long-retired atheist philosopher with impaired memory, has fallen under the influence of opportunists who seek to exploit his senility to promote their religious views. They find some perverse satisfaction in attaching his name to a book promoting views which were counter to the views he held when alert.
This episode proves nothing regarding the philosophical arguments under discussion but does shed more light on those who are exploiting him. Imagine if Ronald Reagan’s care in his later years had fallen to unethical liberals who applied Reagan’s name to a book which contradicted the views he promoted when healthy. Such a book would not mean anything more than the latest book published under Flew’s name.
