Under the influence of the post-Fregean logical analysis, in the present discourse relationality tends to be identified with polyadicity and relations with universal polyadic predicates. This essay is an attempt to retrieve the Aristotelian understanding of relations as a genuine feature of the world of particulars, consisting of various kinds of “directedness” or “being towards” of one particular thing towards another. It emerges, however, that existing traditional theories are haunted with serious problems so that none of them appears to be defensible. The author undertakes a critical analysis of some of the most important conceptions of relations proposed within the Aristotelian-Scholastic tradition and tentatively proposes his own Neo-Aristotelian solution.
Lukáš Novák Book order







- 2023
- 2014
Suárez's metaphysics in its historical and systematic context
- 348 pages
- 13 hours of reading
Although the importance of Francisco Suárez has been, for some time already, generally recognized even outside the circles of historians of scholasticism, the wider context of his thought – i. e., the rich and diverse Renaissance and Baroque scholasticism – remains largely unexplored. This book is an attempt to contribute to the quest of putting Suárez’s metaphysics (a mere fragment of the whole of his intellectual legacy) into context, historical and systematic. Being the fruit of an international conference held in Prague in October 2008, it puts together a systematically ordered selection of papers devoted to general and specific topics of Suárezian metaphysics, with special respect to its sources and further impact. Part One explores in the first place the notion of being and the nature of metaphysics in general; Part Two then deals with more specific metaphysical topics such as the problem of universals, causality, relations, and God. The book will be of value not just to Suárez-scholars, but to anyone interested in the history of ideas in general and in the the intricacies of metaphysical thought at the verge of modernity in particular.
- 2012
Golden Shower
- 256 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Luka Novak's The Golden Shower or What Men Want is a light-hearted but deadly serious romp through postmodern culture, mores and lifestyles. In turns, it is shallow, profound, didactic, moving and instructive. In its original Slovenian, it was a bestseller, capturing both the ailments and strengths of a world that seems to have turned upside down our normal desires and expectations.