Anthony William Amo (1703–c.1759) was taken to Europe from what is now Ghana, and became a respected philosopher, teaching at the universities of Halle and Jena. He was the first Sub-Saharan African to attend a European university. Events February 2 - Earthquake in Aquila, Italy February 4 - In Japan, the 47 samurai commit seppuku (ritual suicide) February 14 - Earthquake in Norcia, Italy May 27 - Founding of St Petersburg in Russia May 26 - Portugal joins Grand Alliance July 29-31 - Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the... 1759 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A philosopher is a person devoted to studying and producing results in philosophy. ... The Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg is located in the German cities of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt and Wittenberg. ... Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (FSU) is located in Jena, Thuringia in Germany and was named for the German writer Friedrich Schiller. ... Sub-Saharan Africa, Africa south of the Sahara Desert, is the term used to describe those countries of Africa that are not part of North Africa. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... A university is an institution of higher education and of research, which grants academic degrees. ...

Early life and education

Amo was a Nzema (an Akan people). He was born in Awukena in the Axim region of Ghana, but at the age of about four he was taken to Amsterdam by the Dutch East India Company. Some accounts say that he was taken as a slave, others that he was sent to Amsterdam by a preacher working in Ghana. Whatever the truth of the matter, once he arrived he was given as a present to the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, to whose castle in Lower Saxony he was taken. The Akan are an ethnic group from western Africa. ... Municipality of Amsterdam Alternate meanings: See Amsterdam Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. ... This article is about the trading company. ... This article discusses the history of the slave trade of Africa, and its effect upon the continent. ... With an area of 47,618 km and nearly eight million inhabitants, Lower Saxony (German Niedersachsen) lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the countrys sixteen Bundesl nder (federal states). ...

Amo was baptised (and later confirmed) in the castle's chapel. He was treated as a member of the Duke's family, and was educated at the Wolfenbüttel Ritter-Akademie (1717–1721) and at the University of Helmstedt (1721–1727). It's also believed that he would have met Gottfried Leibniz, who was a frequent visitor to the castle. Baptism is a water purification ritual practiced in certain religions such as Christianity, Mandaeanism, Sikhism, and some historic sects of Judaism. ... Confirmation can refer to: Confirmation (sacrament) Confirmation (epistemology) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Alcázar of Segovia, Spain A castle (from the Latin castellum, diminutive of castra, a military camp, in turn the plural of castrum or watchpost), is a fort, a camp and the logical development of a fortified enclosure. ... A chapel is a church other than a parish church, often attached to a larger institution such as a college, a hospital, a palace, or a prison. ... Helmstedt is a town located at the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. ... Events Pope Innocent XIII becomes pope Johann Sebastian Bach composes the Brandenburg Concertos April 4 - Robert Walpole becomes the first prime minister of Britain September 10 - Treaty of Nystad is signed, bringing an end to the Great Northern War November 2 - Peter I is proclaimed Emperor of All the Russias... Events June 11 - George, Prince of Wales becomes King George II of Great Britain. ... Gottfried Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (also Leibnitz) (Leipzig July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716 in Hannover) was a German philosopher, scientist, mathematician, diplomat, librarian, and lawyer of Sorb descent. ...

He then went on to the University of Halle, whose Law School he entered in 1727. He finished his preliminary studies within two years, his dissertation being: “The Rights of Moors in Europe”. For his further studies Amo moved the University of Wittenberg, studying logic, metaphysics, physiology, astronomy, history, law, theology, politics, and medicine, and mastered six languages (English, French, Dutch, Latin, Greek, and German). His medical education, in particular was to play a central rôle in much of his later philosophical thought. Events June 11 - George, Prince of Wales becomes King George II of Great Britain. ... The Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg is located in the German cities of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt and Wittenberg. ... Logic (from ancient Greek λόγος (logos), originally meaning the word, or what is spoken, but coming to mean thought or reason) is the study of arguments. ... Metaphysics (Greek words meta = after/beyond and physics = nature) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of first principles and being (ontology). ... Physiology (in Greek physis = nature and logos = word) is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. ... Astronomy (Greek: αστρονομία = άστρον + νόμος, literally, law of the stars) is the science involving the observation and explanation of events occurring beyond the Earth and its atmosphere. ... History is a term for information about the past. ... Law (a loanword from Old Norse lag), in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules or norms of conduct which mandate, proscribe or permit specified relationships among people and organizations, provide methods for ensuring the impartial treatment of such people, and provide punishments for those who do not follow... Theology is literally rational discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, rational discourse). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Politics is the process and method of making decisions for groups. ... Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with restoring and maintaining health. ...

He gained his doctorate in philosophy at Wittenberg in 1734; his thesis (published as On the Absence of Sensation in the Human Mind and its Presence in our Organic and Living Body) argued against Cartesian dualism in favour of a broadly materialist account of the person. He accepted that it's correct to talk of a mind or soul, but argued that it's the body rather than the mind which perceives and feels. Events January 8 - Premiere of George Frideric Handels opera Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. ...

Whatever feels, lives; whatever lives, depends on nourishment; whatever lives and depends on nourishment grows; whatever is of this nature is in the end resolved into its basic principles; whatever comes to be resolved into its basic principles is a complex; every complex has its constituent parts; whatever this is true of is a divisible body. If therefore the human mind feels, it follows that it is a divisible body.

(On the Απαθεια of the Human Mind 2.1)

Philosophical career & later life

He returned to lecture in philosophy at Halle (under his preferred name Antonius Guilelmus Amo Afer) and in 1736 was made a professor. From his lectures there he produced his second major work in 1738, Treatise on the Art of Philosophising Soberly and Accurately in which he developed an empiricist epistemology very close to that of philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume. In it he also examined and criticised faults such as intellectual dishonesty, dogmatism, and prejudice. Events January 26 - Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne. ... Events January 1 - Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier. ... Empiricism is generally regarded as being at the heart of the modern scientific method, that our theories should be based on our observations of the world rather than on intuition or faith; that is, empirical research and a posteriori inductive reasoning rather than purely deductive logic. ... John Locke John Locke (August 29, 1632–October 28, 1704) was a 17th century philosopher concerned primarily with society and epistemology. ... David Hume David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776) was a Scottish philosopher and historian and, with Adam Smith and Thomas Reid among others, one of the most important figures in the Scottish Enlightenment. ...

In 1740 Amo took up a post in philosophy at the University of Jena, but while there he experienced a number of changes for the worse. The Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel died, leaving him without his long-standing patron and protector. Unfortunately, that coincided with social changes in Germany, which was becoming intellectually and morally narrower and less liberal. Those who argued against the secularisation of education (and against the rights of Africans in Europe) were regaining their ascendancy over those (such as Christian Wolff) who campaigned for greater academic and social freedom. Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... Christian Wolff is the name of at least two notable individuals: an eighteenth-century philosopher and mathematician - see Christian Wolff (philosopher) a twentieth_century composer _ see Christian Wolff (composer) a German actor This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same...

Amo himself was subjected to an unpleasant campaign by some of his enemies, including a public lampoon staged at a theatre in Halle, and he finally decided to return to the land of his birth. He set sail on a Dutch West India Company ship to Ghana via Guinea, arriving in about 1747, and his life from then on becomes more obscure. According to at least one report, he was taken to a Dutch fortress, Fort San Sebastian, in the 1750s, possibly to prevent him sowing dissent among his people. The exact date, place, and manner of his death are unknown, though he probably died in about 1759 at Fort Chama in Ghana. Dutch West India Company (Dutch: West-Indische Compagnie or WIC) was a company of Dutch merchants. ... Events January 31 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Dock Hospital April 9 - The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat was beheaded by axe on Tower Hill, London, for high treason; he was the last man to be executed in this way in Britain May 14 - First battle of Cape... Events and Trends Scientific navigation is developed. ...

Sources and further reading

• Anton Wilhelm Amo Antonius Gvilielmus Amo Afer of Axim in Ghana: Translation of his Works (1968: Halle, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg)
• extract from On the Απαθεια of the Human Mind in Safro Kwame [ed.] Readings in African Philosophy: An Akan Collection (1995: University Press of America) ISBN 0-8191-9911-7

• W. Emmanuel Abraham “Amo” (in Robert L. Arrington [ed.] A Companion to the Philosophers (2001: Oxford, Blackwell) ISBN 0-631-22967-1)
• H. Brentjes Anton Wilhelm Amo — Im Halle, Wittenberg, und Jena (1968: Jena)
• Monika Firla Anton Wilhelm Amo (Nzema, Rep. Ghana) — Kammermohr, Privatdozent für Philosophie, Wahrsager. In: Tribus 51.2002.
• Peter J. King One Hundred Philosophers (2004: New York, Barron's Educational Books) ISBN 0-7641-2791-8