Zimara, Marco Antonio

ZIMARA, MARCO ANTONIO. - Philosopher and physician, b. at S. Pietro in Galatina (Lecce) in 1460, d. at Padua in 1523.

Z.'s works occupy a preeminent place in the Averroist culture of the Paduan school. Besides useful glossaries such as the Tabula et dilucidaciones in dicta Aristotelis et Averrois and the Theoremata seu memorabilium propositionum limitationes, he wrote In libros tres Aristotelis De anima commentarii (Venice 1533), where he attempts a reconciliation in a Christian sense among the various doctrines concerning the immortality (v.) and individuality of the soul. He polemicizes against realistic interpretations of Aristotle and sets up the sense-intellect relationship in a Platonic manner, the former seen as a passive faculty, the latter as having its own "effetrix" nature. In the glosses on the Questiones super parvis naturalibus of Giov. Gianduno he posits form as the principle of individuation (v.) and of the indivisibility of the individual (v.). He also dealt with problems concerning medicine. He collected a vast recipe book, Antrum magico-medicum etc., in which he combines magical-astrological contrivances with religious and eschatological intuitions.

Enrico Garulli