SCALIGERO, GIULIO CESARE. – Philologist, philosopher, and scientist, born at Riva del Garda on 23 April 1484 to the cartographer Benedetto Bordoni, died at Agen on 21 October 1558. He adopted the name S., claiming descent from the noble Veronese family. He studied medicine and natural history at Bologna (1514–19). After pursuing a military career for some time, he withdrew to Agen on the Garonne, as physician to Bishop Angelo della Rovere, and devoted himself exclusively to study. He engaged in two lively polemics, with G. TERAMO (v.).
A creationist, he nevertheless inclines toward identifying God with nature, understood as the connection of effects and causes (Exerc., 77, sect. 5, pp. 120–21). This connection is necessary and tends toward the Supreme Good (Poet., III, 1, p. 81). Man too, whose intellect has a dual function, « ad faciendum et ad cognoscendum » (Exerc., 256, pp. 330–331), must strive toward the good. This is threefold: natural, as an intrinsic attribute of beings; relative, arising from the suitability of two beings to each other; and moral, defined as « perfectio actus cum recta ratione » (Exerc., 307, sect. 7, pp. 412–414). Knowledge, both sensory and intellectual (De causis, pp. 113–17), has beatitude as its end (Poet., III, 1, pp. 80–83).
His Poetica achieved a certain renown; in it, the canons of classical aesthetics are set forth according to a highly detailed logical schematism, against which G. B. Vico (v.) polemicized. Particularly noteworthy is the observation that the poet, besides imitating, is also a creator (I, 1, p. 2), and that his activity must have a moral purpose (pp. 4–5).
Principal works: Adversus Des. Erasmus (Parigi 1531); De causis linguae latinae (Lione 1540); Exotericae exercitaciones de subtilitate contra H. Cardanum (Parigi 1557); Poetices II, VII (Lione 1561); Animadversiones in IV libros De causis plantarum Theophrasti (ivi 1566).