Zabarella was born into a noble Paduan family. He received a humanist education and entered the University of Padua, where he received a doctorate in 1553. His teachers included Francesco Robortello in humanities, Bernardino Tomitano in logic, Marcantonio Genua in physics and metaphysics, and Pietro Catena in mathematics. In 1564 he succeeded Tomitano in a chair of logic. In 1577 he was promoted to the first extraordinary chair of natural philosophy. He died in Padua at the age of 56 in 1589. His entire teaching career was spent at his native university. His successor was Cesare Cremonini.
Work
Zabarella's work reflects his teaching in the Aristotelian tradition. His first published work was Opera logica, followed by Tabula logicae. His commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analyticsappeared in 1582. His great work in natural philosophy was De rebus naturalibus, published posthumously in 1590. It constituted 30 treatises on Aristotelian natural philosophy, the introduction to which was written only weeks before his death. His two sons edited his incomplete commentaries on Aristotle's texts, also published posthumously. Zabarella consulted newly recovered Greek commentators such as Alexander of Aphrodisias, Philoponus, Simplicius, and Themistius, as well as medieval commentators like Thomas Aquinas, Walter Burley, and Averroes. Unlike some earlier scholastic philosophers, he was literate in Greek, and was therefore able to use the Greek texts of Aristotle. He devoted much effort to presenting what he considered to be the true meaning of Aristotle's texts.
Writings
Contains:
With the addition of:
Opera Logica, anastatic reprint of the Kōln 1597 edition by Wilhelm Risse, Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1966.
De rebus naturalibus libri XXX, Ed. José M. García Valverde, Brill, 2016.
De mente agente. De rebus naturalibus liber XXIX. Edited by J. M. García Valverde, Fragmentos de Filosofía, 9.
De sensu gente. De rebus naturalibus liber XXIV. Edizione a cura di J.M. García Valverde, Rivista di Storia della Filosofia, 2012.
De inventione aeterni motoris. De rebus naturalibus liber IV. Edición de J.M. García Valverde, Bruniana & Campanelliana, 2012.
In libros Aristotelis Physicorum commentarii,.
Commentarii in Meteora, In Commentarii in Aristotelis libros physicorum, item In libros De generatione et corruptione, item In Meteora,.
Iacobus Zabarella, Tables de logique. Sur l'Introduction de Porphyre, les Catégories, le De l'interprétation et les Premiers Analytiques d'Aristote: Petite synopse introductive à la logique aristotélicienne. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2003, translated by Michel Bastit.
Jacques Zabarella, La nature de la logique, Paris: Vrin 2009, translated by Dominique Bouillon.
Jacopo Zabarella, On Methods and On Regressus, edited and translated by John P. McCaskey.
