Jakob Schegk

Jakob Schegk (1511 to 1587), also known as Jakob Degen, Schegkius and Scheckius, was a polymath German Aristotelian philosopher and academic physician. Born Jakob Degen at Schorndorf, he took the name Schegk, which he used all his adult life. A prodigy in classical languages, he enrolled at the University of Tubingen in 1527, took his master's degree in 1529, was received by the university senate and began lecturing in philosophy and classics at twenty, and remained at Tubingen for his whole career. He administered the Tubinger Stift, studied law, and turned to medicine in the 1530s, taking a medical doctorate in 1539 after studying with Leonhard Fuchs and Michael Rucker. He stayed on the arts faculty until joining the medical faculty in 1553, and from 1564 the university gave him the unusual dual commission to lecture on both medicine and Aristotle. He became totally blind by 1577 but continued his academic career. He was a leading German Lutheran Aristotelian, opposed the philosophical innovations of Petrus Ramus, and fought a long dispute with the Italian Aristotelian Simone Simoni. His commentaries on the Aristotelian corpus, especially De demonstratione libri XV, are highly regarded.