Sophie Oluwole

Agora

Sophie Oluwole

1935–2018

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

The oral wisdom of the Yoruba, especially the Ifá verses, is genuine philosophy with its own thinkers – Orunmila, she argued, stands beside Socrates as a founder of classical philosophy.

Placement

African & Africana Philosophy · Africa south of the Sahara · Epistemology, Ethics, Society & History

Nigerian philosopher who defended Yoruba oral tradition, especially the Ifá corpus, as genuine philosophy and set Orunmila beside Socrates; she was the first woman to earn a doctorate in philosophy in Nigeria.

Key ideas

Philosophy in oral tradition
Ifá corpus
Socrates and Orunmila

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Influence

Influenced by 1

Socrates

influenced by
Oluwole compared Socrates, who wrote nothing, with Orunmila, the sage of the Ifá tradition, presenting both as founders of classical philosophy (Socrates and Orunmila, 2015). S. B. Oluwole, Socrates and Orunmila: Two Patron Saints of Classical Philosophy (2015)
Evidence: AI draft
Socrates › 470–399 BCE

Criticism

Criticizes 1

Paulin Hountondji

criticised
Oluwole rejected the claim, which she found in Hountondji, that philosophy requires writing, and read the oral Ifá corpus as philosophical texts (Philosophy and Oral Tradition). S. B. Oluwole, Philosophy and Oral Tradition (Lagos: Ark Publications; publication year given variously); Socrates and Ọ̀rúnmìlà: Two Patron Saints of Classical Philosophy (2014); P. Hountondji, Sur la « philosophie africaine » (1976)
Evidence: AI draft
Paulin Hountondji › 1942–2024

Works

2014Socrates and Ọ̀rúnmìlà
Two classical sages of oral philosophy compared – Greek and Yoruba.

Position

Oluwole argued that Africa did not lack philosophy merely because its classical thought was passed down orally. The Ifá corpus of the Yoruba, a vast body of verses used in divination, contains in her reading genuine reflections on knowledge, ethics, gender and society. In her late book she compared Socrates, who also wrote nothing, with Orunmila, the sage of the Ifá tradition, and presented both as founding figures of classical philosophy. She criticized both the Western dismissal of African thought and the uncritical romanticizing of tradition. Her work strengthened the place of oral sources and of women in African philosophy.

Life & context

Sophie Oluwole was born in 1935 in southwestern Nigeria. She studied philosophy at the University of Lagos and in 1984 received her doctorate from the University of Ibadan, the first Nigerian woman to earn a PhD in philosophy. She taught for many years at the University of Lagos, where she also headed the philosophy department. She died in 2018.