Zera Yacob

Zera Yacob (1599–1692) (also spelled Zar'a Ya'aqob or Zar'a Ya'eqob) was a seventeenth century Ethiopian philosopher. His 1667 treatise, known in the original Ge'ez language as the Hatata, has often been compared by a handful of non-traditional scholars to Descartes' Discours de la méthode in (1637). His writing came at a period when African philosophical literature was significantly oral in character. He believed in following one's natural reasoning instead of believing what one is told by others.