Hatata

Hatata (/hɑːˈtɑːtə/; Geʽez: ሐተታ ḥätäta "inquiry") is a Geʽez term describing an investigation or inquiry. The hatatas are two 17th century ethical and rational philosophical treatises from present-day Ethiopia: One hatata is written by the Abyssinian philosopher Zara Yaqob (Zär'a Ya'eqob/Zera Yacob, in his text also named Wärqe, 1600–1693), supposedly in 1668. The other hatata is written by his patron's son, Walda Heywat (Wäldä Hewat) some years later, in 1693 or later. Especially Zera Yacob's inquiry has been compared by scholars to Descartes'. But while Zera Yacob was critical towards all religions, including his "own" Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Descartes followed a more traditional religious perspective: "A major philosophical difference is that the Catholic Descartes explicitly denounced 'infidels' and atheists, whom he called 'more arrogant than learned' in his Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)."

In late 2023, De Gruyter published the first English translation of the texts outside of Ethiopia, "The Hatata Inquiries: Two Texts of Seventeenth-Century African Philosophy from Ethiopia about Reason, the Creator, and Our Ethical Responsibilities".

Zara Yaqob was religious, but he had survived religious persecution and he was skeptical about the claims of organized religion. The treatise's criticism of religion targets in particular Christianity, Islam, Judaism and the Indian religions. He criticizes the Mosaic law as misogynistic and against nature, because (in his view) it impedes marriage and the entire life of a woman, it prevents the upbringing of children, and it destroys love.