Souleymane Bachir Diagne is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Northwestern University. He is also a faculty member of the Program of African studies. An alumnus of Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, he obtained his PhD in philosophy at the University of Sorbonne. His field of research includes history of algebraic logic, Islamic philosophy and Mysticism (Sufism) and cultural studies.
His first publication was a presentation, in French, of George Boole’s algebra of Logic: Boole, l’oiseau de nuit en plein jour (Paris. Belin. 1989) [ Boole, a nightbird in the daylight] . His most recent book, Islam et société ouverte, la fidélité et le mouvement dans la pensée de Muhammad Iqbal (Paris. Maisonneuve & Larose. 2001)[ Islam and the open society: Fidelity and movement in Muhammad Iqbal’s Thought] is an introduction to the thought of one of the greatest modernist philosophers of the Muslim world: the Indian poet Muhammad Iqbal. He has also published in 2002 a lexicon titled Cent mots pour dire l’Islam, or, in English: A hundred definitions to understand Islam. In the field of African philosophy, among other titles, Diagne has published Africanity as an open question. In Identity and beyond: rethinking Africanity. Discussion Paper 12. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala. Sweden 2001 and On Prospective: Development and a Political Culture of Time. Africa Development, Vol. XXIX, No. 1, 2004, pp. 49-63. Published by Codesria.