Q0621
“Emotion is Negro, as reason is Hellenic.” — Léopold Sédar Senghor ("Ce que l'homme noir apporte" (1939);…)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: "Ce que l'homme noir apporte" (1939); Liberté I. Theme: knowledge.
English
Emotion is Negro, as reason is Hellenic.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to "Ce que l'homme noir apporte" (1939); Liberté I and files it under Africana Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001) was a Senegalese poet, theorist of Négritude, and Senegal’s first president. With Césaire and Damas he forged a black cultural affirmation in French; his essays treat Négritude as an ontology and aesthetics of vital force as well as a politics of cultural rendezvous.
How to read this passage
Epistemology asks whether knowledge is justified true belief, reliable tracking of the world, or something else; it also asks how perception, testimony, memory, and reason contribute. This passage enters that discussion through knowledge, experience, society.
Concepts in this quote
- Knowledge
- Knowledge is the philosophical study of what we can justifiably claim to know—and where certainty ends.
- Experience
- Experience is the lived encounter with world and self—foundation or limit for knowledge, art, and ethics.
- Society
- Society is the web of institutions, customs, and mutual expectations in which individual freedom takes shape.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Léopold Sédar Senghor. (n.d.). Emotion is Negro, as reason is Hellenic. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0621
MLA: Léopold Sédar Senghor. “Emotion is Negro, as reason is Hellenic..” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0621.
Chicago: Léopold Sédar Senghor. “Emotion is Negro, as reason is Hellenic..” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0621.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “Emotion is Negro, as reason is Hellenic.”?
The passage is attributed to Léopold Sédar Senghor, "Ce que l'homme noir apporte" (1939); Liberté I. The archive attributes this English wording to "Ce que l'homme noir apporte" (1939); Liberté I and files it under Africana Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Léopold Sédar Senghor mean by knowledge?
Epistemology asks whether knowledge is justified true belief, reliable tracking of the world, or something else; it also asks how perception, testimony, memory, and reason contribute. This passage enters that discussion through knowledge, experience, society.