Ezumezu Logic: A Clarification and Defense

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Keywords

African Philosophy
Defense
Ezumezu Logic
Hegelian Logic
Logic-Criterion

Abstract

Two common denominators may be discerned from the overall body of objections leveled against Ezumezu logic. The first, questions the originality of the Logic saying it is no different from Hegelian logic where the third value is a synthesis. The second seems synonymous with the fallacy of passing one of the many species as the genus – being an Igbo-inspired logic, critics have probed, to what extent it speaks to philosophizing for the entirety of the Africa continent. Our aim therefore is to defend Ezumezu against these charges and clarify the principal thesis of the System. We argue that a synthesis in Ezumezu is an anathema, hence it bears no semblance with Hegelian logic. In addition, we counter the outlook that the system impresses itself as the dominant African logic. Hence, we implore critics and African philosophy experts to engage the logic of their cultures critically, to discern places of parallels and departures from Ezumezu. This is pertinent for two reasons – a philosophy is African, or Western or Asian because of the logic that fortifies it and a logic that undergirds African philosophy and studies must evolve from within the continent but not without.