Reading Wiredu

Wiredu is the master of the short, tightly argued, razor sharp essay, and in this sense it is appropriate for Hallen to provide five relatively short and similarly concise essays that attempt to bring Wiredu's essays into a more comprehensive view and, in so doing, introduce Wiredu to a contemporary audience.

~Jason M. Wirth, Seattle University

We all owe a debt of gratitude to Barry Hallen for bringing to us a Kwasi Wiredu who has an abundant lot to teach us about some of the perennial questions of philosophy.  This is an invaluable primer on one of the major philosophers of our time with a body of work ranging from logic to ontology, from philosophy of language to ethics and social and political philosophy that deserves to be better known than it is.  Operating from a solid base in his cultural heritage, as all philosophers do, Wiredu illuminates our understanding of some of the most significant debates in contemporary philosophy.  Our discipline needs this book.

~Olufemi Taiwo, Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University

Reading Wiredu is an important contribution to African philosophy in particular, and to African studies generally. It aids the reader to make sense of Kwasi Wiredu's voluminous corpus by supplying useful background information, explicating key concepts, and showing the relationships among various aspects of Wiredu's thought. Prof. Hallen has also supplied a rich bibliography, which gives the reader very useful guidance on the part of the story of Wiredu's numerous publications not covered in this little but highly informative book. It is an invaluable resource not only to scholars of philosophy, but also those of linguistics, political science, sociology, anthropology, and history, as well as to general readers.

~Reginald M.J. Oduor, University of Nairobi, Kenya