Helen Verran and the Question of African Logic

Bibliographic Data

ID21451240
AuthorsEmmanuel Ofuasia (0000-0002-2028-6005, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), FCT, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume47
Issue2
Pages308-317
Publication date2026-04-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory and Philosophy of Logic (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0144-5340 • E-ISSN: 1464-5149
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01445340.2024.2426107
OpenAlexW4405193935
LanguageEN
References cited13

Hitherto, the African intellect had been decimated by notable European scholars such as David Hume, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Hegel, Lucien Levy-Bruhl to name a few. The common denominator among these male scholars is that the African intellect is not yet developed to the extent that it can accommodate logical reasoning. Whereas notable African scholars have responded to these charges as misleading whilst exploring ways of coming up with a logic system that can mediate the theory, thought and practice peculiar to Africans yet applicable in other climes, the role of women in this journey has usually been downplayed. This research thereby seeks to fill this void by making a case for the contribution of the Australian Helen Verran who did not engage in armchair scholarship as most of her European male counterparts who deny the African the ability to reason logically, but journeyed to Nigeria to perform some experiments with the Yorùbá numerical system. She is persuaded that through the traditional Yorùbá numerical pattern, an underlying logic system is implied. Even when her conclusions are questionable on several fronts, this research concludes that her role in instilling confidence in the development of artificial logic in Africa must not go unmentioned

Epistemology · African cultural and philosophical studies · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics

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