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The Schools of Thought in African Logic

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Abstract

I identify three schools of thought in the African logic debate namely, the apologists, the polemicists and the system builders. I show that while the first two are haunted by the essentialist ideologies of Afrocentricism and Eurocentricism, it is the last school that is actually doing the correct thing. I highlight the individual positions or contributions from members of each school and show where they failed or succeeded. I conclude by identifying system building, the type I propose to do in Ezumezu logic as the proper direction of African logic project.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See also Leopold Senghor . (1962 and 1977)

  2. 2.

    See also E. E. Evans-Pritchard (1965), M. Fortes and G. Dieterlen (1972) and C. B. Okolo (1993) who variously corroborate the position held by Winch.

  3. 3.

    See Ijiomah (2006), Etuk (2002) and Senghor (1962).

  4. 4.

    See Hunnings (1975), Nze (1998) and Uduma (2009).

  5. 5.

    Kwasi Wiredu (1984) was the first to give detail criticism of Horton’s similar position by drawing attention to the fact that Horton’s comparison of African thought and Western science was greatly mistaken.

  6. 6.

    I contrast logic relativity with logic relativism . While the former describes a scenario where a system is culture-inspired in terms of the formulation of some of its principles, the latter describes a scenario where a system is not only culture-inspired but most importantly culture-bound in application of its principles. I accept the former and reject the latter as a mode of a system of African logic.

  7. 7.

    See: Makinde, M. A . (1977); Momoh (2000) and Makumba (2007).

  8. 8.

    See Makinde (2010); Wiredu (1991); Uduma (1998, 2009, 2015).

  9. 9.

    See Makinde (2010: 42) and Uduma (2009)

  10. 10.

    Hountondji (1996).

  11. 11.

    See Momoh (2000), Okolo (1993) and Ijiomah (2014)

  12. 12.

    I have had the privilege of joining this debate. I (2011) began by reacting to Uduma (2009). In reaction, Uduma (2015) sought again to undermine my arguments which I responded to, see Chimakonam (2015a). Whichever way one looks at the argument, it does look as though it is going to continue for some time to come.

  13. 13.

    See Chimakonam (2018).

  14. 14.

    See Chimakonam (2015b).

  15. 15.

    See Chimakonam , J.O. (2015c).

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria

    Jonathan O. Chimakonam

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Chimakonam, J.O. (2019). The Schools of Thought in African Logic. In: Ezumezu. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11075-8_4

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