Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn (born in Bolzano, 26 July 1735 – died there, 11 January 1813) was a philosopher and canonist .
Zallinger studied at Innsbruck and Munich, and entered the Jesuit order at Landsberg am Lech on 9 October 1753. He taught philosophy at Munich from 1758 to 1761, before going to Ingolstadt to study theology. Zallinger was ordained priest on 1 June 1765.[1]
After the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, Zallinger taught philosophy in Dillingen, and then physics in Innsbruck in 1777 before going to Augsburg at the invitation of Prince-bishop Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, who engaged him as professor of canon law, at the College of St. Salvator. He held this position for thirty years (1777-1807). From 1797 to 1802, he also served as rector of the university.[2]
In 1805, he spent four months as theologian at the papal nunciature at Ratisbon; followed by sixteen months, upon invitation of Pius VII spent in Rome as papal councillor in German affairs (1805-6).[1] He also taught in Trento.[3]
In 1807 his position at the college ended and he was released without a pension. He returned to Bolzano, where he lived with family members, devoting the rest of his life to literary labours. As a canonist he defended the papal rights again the Febronian tendencies in Germany, and as a philosopher he endeavoured to replace the scholastic method by the empiricism of Newton.[1] "Zallinger zum Thurn was a recognized authority on Newton's theory of gravitation."[3]
His best-known work is Interpretatio naturae, seu philosophia Newtoniana methodo exposita (3 vols., Augsburg, 1773), wherein he defends the Copernican account of the solar system, and Newton's empiricism.[2]
His chief canonical works are:
His chief philosophical works are:
