Researchers at the University of Addis Ababa have announced the discovery of a rare 16th-century Ge'ez manuscript in a remote monastery in the Amhara region. The text, titled 'The Mirror of Reason,' appears to be an indigenous critique of Aristotelian syllogisms, which were introduced to the region via earlier Greek-to-Arabic translations. This find suggests that Ethiopian scholars were engaged in high-level logical debates long before the European Enlightenment.
The manuscript challenges the standard historiography of philosophy by showing a sophisticated internal tradition of 'Qene' (poetic logic) being applied to metaphysical inquiries. Experts believe this document served as a teaching manual for advanced students of the Debtera class, focusing on the fallibility of human perception compared to divine revelation.