Jakob Schegk (also known as ''Jakob Degen'', ''Johann Jacob Brucker Schegk'', ''Jakob Schegk the elder'', ''Schegkius'', and ''Scheckius''; 6 June 1511 – 9 May 1587) was a polymath German Aristotelian philosopher and academic physician.

Origins and education

Born Jakob Degen in

Schorndorf Schorndorf is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located approximately 26 km east of Stuttgart. Its train station is the terminus of the S2 line of the Stuttgart S-Bahn. The town is also sometimes referred to as ' (''The Daimler Town ...

, son of the citizen Bernhard Degen, he adopted the name Schegk/Schegkius which he used his entire adult life. A prodigy in classical languages, having studied with Johann Reuchlin’s student Johann Thomas in Schorndorf, Schegk made rapid progress upon enrolling at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

in 1527, taking his M.A. in 1529. He was received by the university senate and began lectures in philosophy and classics while only twenty. He remained in Tübingen for his entire career.

Academic career

He took over the administration of the Tübinger Stift giving him the opportunity to develop a competence in theology. He likewise studied law prior to turning his attention to medicine in the 1530s. He took a doctorate in medicine in 1539 after studying with

Leonhard Fuchs Leonhart Fuchs (; 17 January 1501 – 10 May 1566), sometimes spelled Leonhard Fuchs and cited in Latin as ''Leonhartus Fuchsius'', was a German physician and botanist. His chief notability is as the author of a large book about plants and th ...

and Michael Rucker. He remained on the arts faculty until joining the medical faculty in 1553. Nevertheless, his philosophical expertise was too great to go untapped, and the university gave him the unusual dual commission to hold lectures in both medicine and Aristotle from 1564 onwards. His poor eyesight hampered his mobility, and he became totally blind by 1577. He nevertheless continued his academic career. In philosophy, he was a leading German Lutheran Aristotelian and was regarded as one of the greatest philosophical authorities of his age. He died at Tübingen. While somewhat neglected by modern scholarship, his numerous commentaries upon the Aristotelian corpus are highly regarded, especially his ''De demonstratione libri XV''. He engaged a long running dispute against the Italian Aristotelian philosopher

Simone Simoni Simone Simoni (1532, Lucca - 1602, Kraków) was an Italian philosopher and physician. After graduating in medicine from the University of Padua, Simoni moved to Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Gi ...

. A committed Aristotelian, he resolutely opposed the philosophical innovations of

Petrus Ramus Petrus Ramus (french: Pierre de La Ramée; Anglicized as Peter Ramus ; 1515 – 26 August 1572) was a French humanist, logician, and educational reformer. A Protestant convert, he was a victim of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Early life ...

. He likewise was involved in a dialogue with

Thomas Erastus Thomas Erastus (original surname Lüber, Lieber, or Liebler; 7 September 152431 December 1583) was a Swiss physician and Calvinist theologian. He wrote 100 theses (later reduced to 75) in which he argued that the sins committed by Christians shou ...

concerning the

ubiquity Ubiquity is a synonym for omnipresence, the property of being present everywhere. Ubiquity may also refer to: * Ubiquity (software), a simple graphical installer made for the Ubuntu operating system * Ubiquity (Firefox), an experimental extensi ...

of Christ's physical body in the

Lord's Supper The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...

. Prominent students included Nicolaus Taurellus and

Andreas Planer Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...

, and Schegk exercised a more distant influence on the French Paracelsian

Joseph Duchesne Quercetanus Joseph Duchesne or du Chesne (Quercetan, Latin Josephus Quercetanus) ( 1544–1609) was a French physician. A follower of Paracelsus, he is now remembered for important if transitional alchemical theories. He called sugar toxic, saying: “Under it ...

. Recent studies have demonstrated his long lasting impact on early modern medical theory. Hans Weber dubbed him “the father and pioneer of

Protestant Scholasticism Protestant scholasticism or Protestant orthodoxy was academic theology practiced by Protestant theologians using the scholastic method during the era of Calvinist and Lutheran orthodoxy from the 16th to 18th centuries. Protestant scholasticism de ...

.”Quoted in James Hinz, "Jacob Schegk," ''Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation'' (Oxford, 1996), vol 4, p. 2

Works

''Antisimonius, quo refelluntur supra trecentos errores Simonii ... Eivsdem Iacobi Schegkii Apologeticus, oppositus calumniae G. Genebrardi, Parisiensis Theologi''
Tübingen: Georg Gruppenbach, 1573 (

VD 16 The Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts (VD 16) (in English: ''Bibliography of Books Printed in the German Speaking Countries of the Sixteenth Century''), abbreviated VD 16, is a project to make a ret ...

S 2464).
''Antilogia Jacobi Schegkii Schorndorffensis, qua refellit XXVII Propositiones Servetianae Haereseos''
Tübingen: Ulrich Morhart, 1568 (VD16 S 2463).
''De demonstratione libri XV''
Basel:

Johannes Oporinus Johannes Oporinus (also Johannes Oporin; Latinised from the original German name: ''Johannes Herbster'' or ''Hans Herbst'') (25 January 1507 – 7 July 1568) was a humanist printer in Basel. Life Johannes Oporinus, the son of the painter Hans ...

et al., 1564 (

S 2475).
''De Vna Persona & duabus Naturis Christi: Sententia Iacobi Schegkij D. Medici Et Philosophi Clarissimi, Professoris Scholae Tubingensis ex fundamentis quidem Scripturae Sacrae, analysi autem Philosophica, & piè & eruditè explicata''
Frankfurt: Peter Braubach, 1565 (VD16 S 2493).
''Hyperaspistes Responsi, ad quatuor Epistolas Petri Rami contra se aeditas''
Tübingen: Ulrich Morhart, 1570 (VD16 S 2478). * ''Organi Aristotelei Pars prima eaq eanalytica''. Basel: Eusebius Episcopius, 1577 (VD16 S 2483).
''Tractationum physicarum et medicarum tomus unus''
Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1585 (VD16 S 2492).

Notes

References

* Günter Frank, ''Die Vernunft des Gottesgedankens: Religionsphilosophische Studien zur frühen Neuzeit''. Stuttgart, Bad Cannstatt, 2003 (Quaestiones ; 13). ''Johann Jacob Brucker Schegk* James Hinz, "Jacob Schegk," ''Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation'' (Oxford, 1996), vol. 4, p. 2. * Hiro Hirai, "The Invisible Hand of God in Seeds: Jacob Schegk’s Theory of Plastic Faculty," ''Early Science and Medicine'' 12 (2007): 377-404. * Hiro Hirai, "Jacob Schegk on the Plastic Faculty and the Origins of Souls" in ''Medical humanism and natural philosophy: Renaissance debates on matter, life, and the soul'' (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 81-103. * Sachiko Kusukawa, "Lutheran uses of Aristotle: a comparison between Jacob Schegk and Philip Melanchthon." In ''Philosophy in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999), pp. 169–205.
Albert Moll, "Jakob Degen und Oswald Gabelkover," in ''Medicinisches Correspondenzblatt des Württembergischen Ärztlichen Veriens'' 26 (1856): 81-85, 89-92, 97-103
* * Christoph Sigwart, ''Jakob Schegk. Ein Bild aus der Geschichte der Universität Tübingen im 16. Jahrhundert''. In Staatsanzeiger, Beilage 1883, pp. 65–79 * Christoph Sigwart, “Jacob Schegk, Professor der Philosophie und Medizin. In ''Kleine Schriften'', I, 256-291 (Freiburg, 1889).

External links

Woodcut portrait of Schegk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schegk, Jakob 1511 births 1587 deaths People from Schorndorf 16th-century Latin-language writers Latin commentators on Aristotle 16th-century German philosophers 16th-century German physicians University of Tübingen faculty University of Tübingen alumni 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers