Souleymane Bachir Diagne

Who is Souleymane Bachir Diagne?

Souleymane Bachir Diagne is a Senegalese philosopher, born in 1955 in Saint-Louis, French Senegal. His work is focused on the history of logic and mathematics, epistemology, the tradition of philosophy in the Islamic world, identity formation, and African literatures and philosophies.

After passing his baccalauréat in Senegal, Diagne was admitted to the demanding public secondary school Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, following in the footsteps, almost a half-century later, of his compatriot and the first president of Senegal, Léopold Sédar Senghor. There he prepared for the entrance exams to the École Normale Supérieure, meanwhile receiving his license and maîtrise level degrees in philosophy at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. At the École Normale Supérieure he studied with Althusser and Derrida. After receiving his agrégation in Philosophy, Diagne spent a year at Harvard University in an exchange program. In 1982 he defended a doctoral thesis in mathematics at Université Paris I, where, in 1988, he also completed his doctorat d’Etat, under the direction of Jean-Toussaint Desanti, on George Boole’s algebra of logic.

In 1982 Diagne returned to his native country to teach philosophy at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, where he became vice-dean of the College of Humanities. The former president of the Republic of Senegal, Abdou Diouf, named him Counselor for Education and Culture, a position which he held from 1993 to 1999.