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Thinkers

Zera Yacob

African · Africa · 1599 to 1692

Ethiopian thinker whose book, the Hatata, uses reason alone to ask about God, suffering and how to live.

What it is

Zera Yacob was an Ethiopian philosopher of the seventeenth century, best known for a treatise called the Hatata. In it he uses reason to ask about God and about how people of different faiths can live together. The sources differ by a year on the dates of his birth and death.

He wrote at a time of bitter religious dispute in Ethiopia, when the Ethiopian Orthodox faith was under pressure from Catholic missionaries. His treatise is described as shaped by the disputes of that time over the nature of true faith.

The main ideas

  • The light of reason. He built his philosophy on reason as a guide. His treatise is often described as an investigation guided by the light of reason.
  • Ethics on a rational base. He looked for a foundation for right and wrong that rests on reason.
  • Tolerance among faiths. He took up the question of how people of different faiths can live side by side, His work is read as an argument for religious tolerance, or pluralism.
  • Reason and God. He asked what reason can say about God.

What it looks like in practice

Imagine someone in a town where two religious groups each say the other is wrong. Following Zera Yacob, they would put the question to their own reason, and ask what reason says about how they should treat their neighbours of the other faith, before they ask what their own side demands. They might then conclude that the dispute is not a good reason for discrimination. This is an illustration of his line of thought, not a passage from his book.

Books and moments

  • The Hatata is his treatise. The name is spelled Hatata or Hateta in the sources.
  • A disputed authorship. Some scholars claimed that the Hatata was written by an Italian missionary named Urbino and not by an Ethiopian. Others have defended its Ethiopian authorship, and one author calls the forgery story a fabricated account.

Questions and criticism

  • How to rate him. People ask how his philosophy should be set beside the work of the European philosophers, and whether comparison is the right question to ask.
  • The forgery claim. It is fair to ask what that claim rested on and how well the evidence holds.
  • Reason and faith. He put reason first. People still ask how far reason alone can take someone on questions about God, and how it relates to faith.

Close neighbours

The pages on Anton Wilhelm Amo, Kwasi Wiredu and Kwame Gyekye are other African philosophers on this site, and each can be read next to his.

Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 29 October 2026. The sources are listed below.

Who they connect to

Runs parallel to

  • John Locke · Both defend the natural light of reason and religious tolerance. (scholars disagree about this link)
  • René Descartes · Both describe starting an inquiry alone, by reason, about God and how to live. (scholars disagree about this link)
  • Voltaire · Both criticise rival religious authorities from the standpoint of reason. (scholars disagree about this link)

Other African thinkers

Sources we used

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