Philosophers like Gilbert Ryle, A. J. Ayer, and Antony Flew brought new life to old metaphysical issues like mind-body interaction, God's existence, and the problem of evil. Their revelations were more about the analysis of concepts and the language used than in introducing new content. But good analytic philosophy had the power to make an old presentation of a problem seem downright naive.

Antony Flew's “Parable of the Gardener” was one such case. Flew had shown by applying his concept of falsification what no philosopher unequipped with such a concept could have shown.