African logic or logic in Africa: Reflections on Chris Ijiomah’s harmonious monism

Abstract

Reactions to Lucien Levy-Bruhl’s assertion that Africans were prelogical and contestations regarding logic that is peculiarly African abound. Amidst the view that logical principles are universal just as mathematical principles are and so do not need to be labelled African, Asian or Western, Chris Ijiomah, a Nigerian thinker, formulates the principle of harmonious monism as a peculiarly African logic. This paper aims to critique Ijiomah’s perspective. I reflect on the alternative logics of Innocent Asouzu and Jonathan Chimakonam, bringing them to bear on Ijiomah’s position. I bring the interculturality perspective to bear on inferiorizing other cultures’ informal logic. I urge the view that beyond claims regarding the existence of African logic, as Ijiomah has done, concerted efforts should be made to show how logic can be employed to address the problem of bifurcation in the modern world. The paper employs the method of content and critical analysis.