Walda Heywat
Walda Heywat | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1633 |
| Died | 1710 (aged 76–77) |
| Nationality | Ethiopian |
| Occupation | Teacher |
| Notable work | Treatise of Walda Heywat |
Walda Heywat (Amharic: ወልደ ሕይወት; 1633–1710), also called Mitku, was an Ethiopian philosopher. He was the beloved disciple of Zara Yacob, who wrote a well regarded work on the nature of truth and reason. Heywat took his mentor’s work and expanded upon it, addressing issues encountered by Ethiopians of that time.
Biography
Walda Heywat was one of the sons of Habtu, a rich Ethiopian merchant from Emfraz, and the student of
It was Walda Heywat who encouraged Zera Yacob to write his Treatise of Zera Yacob, describing both his life and his thoughts.
Philosophical work
The personality of Walda Heywat comes out clearly from the analysis of his social ethics. Being a disciple of Zera Yacob and heavily influenced by his master's thought, he wrote his Treatise to explore and explain the ideas of his teacher. Although Zara Yacob's ideas were relatively individualistic, Walda Heywat was a social ethicist. In his writing, Walda Heywat states, "God did not create me only for myself, but placed me in the midst of other created [men] who are equal to me." He also adds, “Man cannot come to existence, grow, and serve by himself without the help of other men."[3]
Further reading
- Enno Littmann. Philosophi Abessini. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, Vol. 18, Scriptores Aethiopici, Presses Républicaines, 1904. Contains the Ge'ez text of Walda Heywat's treatise.
- Claude Sumner, Ethiopian Philosophy, vol. II: The Treatise of Zara Yaecob and Walda Hewat: Text and Authorship, Commercial Printing Press, 1976.
- Claude Sumner, Ethiopian Philosophy, vol. III: The Treatise of Zara Yaecob and Walda Hewat: An Analysis, Commercial Printing Press, 1978.
- Claude Sumner. Classical Ethiopian Philosophy, Commercial Printing Press, 1985. Contains an English translation of Walda Heywat's treatise and four other texts.
- Claude Sumner, "The Light and the Shadow: Zera Yacob and Walda Heywat: Two Ethiopian Philosophers of the Seventeenth Century," in Wiredu and Abraham, eds., A Companion to African Philosophy, 2004.
References
- ^ Krause, Andrej. "The Rationality of Faith, God, and the Soul: A Critique of Walda Heywat". Philosophia Africana: Analysis of Philosophy and Issues in Africa and the Black Diaspora. 11 (2 (August 2008)): 89–101 (13 pages) – via JSTOR.
- ^ Wiredu, Kwasi (2004). A Companion to African Philosophy. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. pp. 179–181.
- ^ Belachew, Tekletsadik. Stories from the Fireplace Theological Meditations on Haile Gerima's Cinema. p. 210.
External links
- Ethiopian Philosophy - A blog devoted to Zera Yacob and Walda Heywat
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