The Hatata Inquiries: Two Texts of Seventeenth-Century African Philosophy from Ethiopia about Reason, the Creator, and Our Ethical Responsibilities

<i>The Hatata Inquiries: Two Texts of Seventeenth-Century African Philosophy from Ethiopia about Reason, the Creator, and Our Ethical Responsibilities</i>, by Zara Yaqob and Walda Heywat. Edited by Ralph Lee, Mehari Worku, and Wendy Laura Belcher

The problem of brain drain, the movement of skilled citizens of developing countries to developed ones, arises largely because of seriously unequal life prospects in different countries. Hence, there is something profoundly wrong with the brain drain, something that calls for a moral response. Brock and Blake offer such a response by debating the ethical rights and responsibilities of skilled professionals, and of the societies in which they live, from the perspective of moral liberalism. The aim of my paper is to develop a response to some of their arguments from the perspective of moral communitarianism, with particular reference to the work of one of its classical proponents in African philosophy, Kwame Gyekye.

The concepts of nkrabea and hyɛbrɛ in Africa’s philosophy of life present very distinctive nomenclature and epistemology of how it applies within the socioreligiocultural cosmology. As a challenge to normative definition, the epistemology of the African philosophical context engenders new nomenclatures that hitherto were rejected by the hegemonic frameworks of Western paradigmatic nomenclature. The African philosophy of life which is formed by a very distinct socioreligioculture and framed by fascination and experience of the supernatural does not fail to recognise the existence of vast dimensions and active spiritual cosmology. If there is anything conceived with such an aura of reverence, it is life, beyond biological classification and, experiences such as the ability to think, feel, or be aware of one’s existence. Life is “energy” (spiritual force) which provides every element its function or purpose and nkrabea and hyɛbrɛ are the function or purpose predetermined for every element. The objective of the study was to find out the meaning of nkrabea and hyɛbrɛ and how they apply to the African philosophy of life. The study used a qualitative research method. Data was gathered from journals, articles, and library materials. Ethical responsibilities defined a set of principles and protocols that guided the study. The study concluded that the concepts of nkrabea, and hyɛbrɛ are conceptualised within the African philosophy of life and present critical nomenclatures on the function, or purpose of life within the context of human destiny and inform new epistemology. Its belief provides a perspective that informs the idea that nothing is purposeless. Keywords: Nkrabea, Hyɛbrɛ, Cosmology, Spirituality, Philosophy