ZABARELLA, GIACOMO. — Aristotelian philosopher, born in Padua on 5 September 1535, died there on 18 October 1589.
He studied literature under the guidance of Robortello and Fasolo, logic with B. Tomitano, and natural philosophy with M. A. Genua (v.). Professor of logic in his native city from 1564 to 1577, he had as colleague and rival B. Petrella, who began to attack him in the Questiones logicae (Venice 1571; 2nd enlarged ed., Padua 1572). Z. pretended to ignore him. But, having been promoted in 1577 to teach natural philosophy, Z. published the following year his Opera logica (Venice) and soon found in his colleague Francesco Piccolomini a more authoritative adversary, who in the Universa philosophia de moribus (Venice 1583) took a position against him on the question of the ordo disciplinae and the regressus, which had also once been treated by Pomponazzi. In 1584 Z. defended himself vigorously with the Apologia. Meanwhile Petrella published in Padua the Logicarum disputationum libri septem, written largely against him. Z. allowed his pupil Ascanio Persio to reply on his behalf (Logicarum disputationum libri duo, Venice 1585). Petrella responded with a Propugnatio, to which Persio replied with the Defensio criticorum et apologetici primi (Bologna 1587). Piccolomini answered the Apologia with the Comes politicus, published, however, only in 1594 as an addition to the 2nd ed. of the Univ. philos. de moribus (Venice).
In order to understand the spirit of Z.’s philosophy, this judgment on Pomponazzi should be kept in mind: «librum doctissimum [De reactione] Petri Pomponati, cuius quidem viri iudicium ego semper plurimi feci» (in De rebus natural., treatise De reactione, chap. 1); «P. Pomp. meo quidem iudicio proxime omnium ad Aristotelis mentem... accessit» (ibid., treatise De mente humana, chap. 9). Unlike Pomponazzi, who did not know a word of Greek, Z. boasts in his commentary on De anima III, chap. 17: «Ego tres habco codices graecos». And, like Pendasio, he cites and discusses the Greek commentators on Aristotle at considerably greater length than Pomponazzi does. In his doctrine concerning the agent intellect, identified with God, he stands with Alexander of Aphrodisias, Pendasio, and the Averroists of the Sigerian current of the «Bononienes» (Achillini, Bacilieri, Tsiapietra). He is also an Alexandrist on the question of the immortality of the soul, demonstrable «simpliciter loquendo et secundum veram philosophiam, non secundum philosophiam Aristotelis».