Jacopo Zabarella

Life

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, in logic, Marcantonio Genua in physics and metaphysics, and Pietro Catena in mathematics. In 1564 he succeeded Tomitano in the 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.

Works

Zabarella's works reflect his teaching in the Aristotelian tradition. His first published work was Opera logica (Venice 1578), followed by Tabula logicae (1578).

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

• 1st edition (Venice, 1578) contains: |De natura logicae, an introductory text on the nature of logic |De quarta figura syllogismorum |De methodis |De conversione demonstrationi in definitionem |De propositionibus necessariis |De speciebus demonstrationis |De regressus |De tribus praecognitis |De medio demonstrationis}}}}
• (Venice, 1586).
• De rebus naturalibus: libri XXX (Koln, 1590).
• 3rd edition (Koln, 1597). With the addition of: |In II libros Posteriores analyticos commentarii (Commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, Venice, 1582) |De doctrinae ordine apologia (Padua, 1585) |Tabulae logicae (Venice, 1578)
• (Venice, 1601).
• Commentarii in III libros De anima (Venice, 1605).

Editions and translations

• Opera logica, anastatic reprint of the Kōln 1597 edition by Wilhelm Risse (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1966).
• 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, tr. Michel Bastit (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2003).
• La nature de la logique, tr. Dominique Bouillon (Paris: Vrin, 2009).
• On Methods and On Regressus, ed. and tr. John P. McCaskey (I Tatti Renaissance Library; Harvard University Press, 2014).
  • Volume 1, On Methods, Books I–II.
  • Volume 2, On Methods, Books III–IV and On Regressus.
• De rebus naturalibus libri XXX, ed. José M. García Valverde (Brill, 2016). See also: | De inventione aeterni motoris. De rebus naturalibus liber V, ed. J. M. García Valverde (Bruniana & Campanelliana, 2012). | De sensu gente. De rebus naturalibus liber XXIV, ed. J. M. García Valverde (Rivista di Storia della Filosofia, 2012). |De mente agente. De rebus naturalibus liber XXIX, ed. J. M. García Valverde, Fragmentos de Filosofía, 9 (2011).

References

References

1. "Giacomo Zabarella".
2. Kessler, E., [https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/zabarella-jacopo-1533-89/v-1/sections/the-nature-of-logic-1 Zabarella, Jacopo (1533–89): 2. The nature of logic], ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', accessed on 1 December 2025