Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn (born in Bolzano, 26 July 1735 – died there, 11 January 1813) was a philosopher and canonist.
Biography 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.Ott, Michael. "Jacob Anton Zallinger zum Thurn." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 27 December 2019.
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.Rudnick SJ, Kenneth. "Zallinger, Jacob Anton", The Bloomsbury Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century German Philosophers, (Heiner F. Klemme, Manfred Kuehn, ed.), Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016
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 (1805-06). He also taught in Trento.
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 Isaac Newton. "Zallinger zum Thurn was a recognized authority on Newton's theory of gravitation."
Works His best-known work is (3 vols., Augsburg, 1773), wherein he defends the Copernican account of the Solar System, and Newton's empiricism.
His chief canonical works are: (Augsburg, 1784; Ghent, 1823; Rome, 1832) (Augsburg, 1784; Ghent, 1823) (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1787) (5 vols., Augsburg, 1792–3; 3 vols., Rome, 1832)
His chief philosophical works are: (Munich, 1769) (2 vols., Augsburg, 1799)
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