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Zara Yacob (1592-1692)

Zara Yacob (1592-1692) Seventeenth century Ethiopian philosopher and religious thinker, whose treatise, in the original Ge'ez language known as the Hatata (1667), has often been compared to Descartes' Discours de la methode (1637). In the period, when African philosophical literature was significantly oral in character, Yacob's inquiry, transmitted by writing, was one of the few exceptions. "Behold, I have begun an inquiry such as has not been attempted before. You can complete what I have begun so that the people of our country will become wise with the help of God and arrive at the science of truth, lest they believe in falsehood, trust in depravity, go from vanity to vanity, that they know the truth and love their brother, lest they quarrel about their empty faith as they have been doing till now." (from The Treatise of Zara Yacob ) Zara Yacob (spelled also Zar'a Ya'aqob or Zar'a Ya'eqob) was born into a farmer's family near Aksum, th...
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The Meditations of Zara Yaquob

Ethiopian Philosopher  The Meditations of Zara Yaquob (1) Introduction I would like Zara Yacob to introduce himself in his own words: I was born in the land of the priests of Aksum. But I am the son of a poor farmer in the district of Aksum; the day of my birth is 25th of Nahase 1592 A. D., the third year of the year of [King] Yaquob. By Christian baptism I was named Zara Yacob, but people called me Warqye. When I grew up, my father sent me to school in view of my instruction. And after I had read the psalms of David my teacher said to my father: "This young son of yours is clever and has the patience to learn; if you send him to a [higher] school, he will be a master and a doctor." After hearing this, my father sent me to study zema. But my voice was coarse and my throat was grating; so my schoolmaster used to laugh at me and to tease me. I stayed there for three months, until I overcame my sadness and went to another master who taught qane and sawsaw. God gave me the...
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Why Study Philosophy?

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Why Study Philosophy? As an answer, the University of Detroit's Philosophy Club posted the following points. What do you make of it? and let me know. Why Major in Philosophy? Philosophy is one of the most practical majors in college.  Philosophy imparts skills that will be valued by any future employer. Philosophy enhances your problem-solving capacities by contributing to your ability to organize ideas and issues, and to extract what is essential from masses of information. Philosophy helps you to distinguish between different viewpoints and to discover common ground among them. Philosophy helps you to appreciate a variety of perspectives so they can be synthesized into a unified whole. Philosophy helps to eliminate ambiguities and vagueness from your speech, and enables you to present what is distinctive about your position through the use of systematic argumentation. Philosophy develops your ability to explain and communicate difficult material. Philosophy enhances your persua...
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