•  12
    Logic as a Science of Patterns?
    Journal of Philosophy 121 (1): 5-25. 2024.
    I propose that logic may be seen as a science of patterns—however, not in the sense in which mathematics is a science of patterns, but rather in the sense in which physics is. The proposal is that logic identifies, explores, and fixes the inferential patterns which de facto govern our argumentative practices. It can be seen, I argue, as picking up the patterns and working from them toward the state of reflective equilibrium, where the laws it aims at are explicitly articulated. Due to the normat…Read more
  • Other worlds: What is the use of worlds beyond the real one?
    In Hans Rott & Vitezslav Horak (eds.), Possibility and Reality, Walter De Gruyter. pp. 125-138. 2003.
  •  2
    Is Compositionality an Empirical Matter?
    In Markus Werning, Edouard Machery & Gerhard Schurz (eds.), The Compositionality of Meaning and Content. Volume I - Foundational Issues,, De Gruyter. pp. 231-246. 2005.
  •  8
    Establishing Logical Forms
    with Vladimír Svoboda
    Logic and Logical Philosophy 1-22. forthcoming.
    The paper presents a demarcation of a “minimalistic” concept of logical form, which nevertheless largely agrees with the way the term “logical form” is commonly used in contemporary logic and philosophy of logic. We see logical forms as formulas of formal languages assigned to (compounds of) sentences of a natural language (perhaps modulo notational variance). We thus reject the views of logical forms as underlying structures of thoughts or of the material reality that surrounds us. The assignme…Read more
  •  16
    Normativity between philosophy and science
    Philosophical Psychology. forthcoming.
    Recent decades are marked by the upswing of the use of the term “normativity“ not only in philosophical discussions, but increasingly also within reports of empirical scientists. This may invoke the question how far these developments overlap and in how far they go past each other. A significant overlap might lead to an interesting coalescence of the two approaches to norms, which may provide for a ”naturalization” of some philosophical speculations about normativity, putting them on a firmer fo…Read more
  •  28
    Inferentialism Naturalized
    Philosophical Topics 50 (1): 33-54. 2022.
    Brandom’s inferentialism explains meaning in terms of inferential rules. As he insists that “the normative” is not reducible to “the natural,” inferentialism would seem an unlikely ally of naturalism. However, in this paper I suggest that Brandom’s theory of language harbors insights which can promote a naturalistic theory of meaning and language, and that a naturalistic version of Brandom’s inferentialism might have great potential. Also I sketch the lines along which such a theory could be bui…Read more
  •  2
    Jak filosofovat o lidské mysli?
    Filosofie Dnes 13 (1). 2021.
    Ve své nové knížce Kauzalita činitele Petr Dvořák argumentuje, že svoboda vůle existuje, a tudíž musíme přijmout nějakou formu indeterminismu; a předkládá návrh odpovídajícího pojmového rámce. Já se naproti tomu domnívám, že ač svoboda vůle skutečně existuje, neměli bychom proto opouštět determinismus; hlásím se tedy k určité formě kompatibilismu. Podle mého druhu kompatibilismu tomu ovšem není tak, že by se svoboda vůle dala vtěsnat do deterministického rámce. Domnívám se, že řešení je v přijet…Read more
  •  3
    Tak dobře, trapme ještě chvilku ducha
    Filosofie Dnes 8 (1): 121-127. 2016.
    Ve své polemice s mou recenzí jeho knihy Tomáš Marvan argumentuje, že debatu mezi realismem a relativismem lze rozřešit, a to prostřednictvím důkazů ve prospěch realismu. V tomto příspěvku vysvětluji, že podle mne realismus nemůže být prokázán, protože to není teze, kterou by bylo možné dokazovat, ale spíše něco jako kantovská „regulativní idea“. In his polemic reply to my review of his book Tomáš Marvan argues that the debate between realism and relativism can be resolved, especially by means o…Read more
  •  3
    This book addresses the hasty development of modern logic, especially its introducing and embracing various kinds of artificial languages and moving from the study of natural languages to that of artificial ones. This shift seemed extremely helpful and managed to elevate logic to a new level of rigor and clarity. However, the change that logic underwent in this way was in no way insignificant, and it is also far from an insignificant matter to determine to what extent the "new logic" only engage…Read more
  •  13
    Logica Dominans vs. Logica Serviens
    with Vladimír Svoboda
    Logic and Logical Philosophy 1-25. forthcoming.
    Logic is usually presented as a tool of rational inquiry; however, many logicians in fact treat logic so that it does not serve us, but rather governs us – as rational beings we are subordinated to the logical laws we aspire to disclose. We denote the view that logic primarily serves us as logica serviens, while denoting the thesis that it primarily governs our reasoning as logica dominans. We argue that treating logic as logica dominans is misguided, for it leads to the idea of a “genuine” logi…Read more
  •  48
    Inferentialism: Why Rules Matter
    Palgrave-Macmillan. 2014.
    In this study two strands of inferentialism are brought together: the philosophical doctrine of Brandom, according to which meanings are generally inferential roles, and the logical doctrine prioritizing proof-theory over model theory and approaching meaning in logical, especially proof-theoretical terms.
  •  5
    Truth and its Nature
    Springer. 1999.
    The question how to turn the principles implicitly governing the concept of truth into an explicit definition of the concept hence coalesced with the question how to get a finite grip on the infinity of T-sentences. Tarski's famous and ingenious move was to introduce a new concept, satisfaction, which could be, on the one hand, recursively defined, and which, on the other hand, straightforwardly yielded an explication of truth. A surprising 'by-product' of Tarski's effort to bring truth under co…Read more
  •  88
    Do Computers "Have Syntax, But No Semantics"?
    Minds and Machines 31 (2): 305-321. 2021.
    The heyday of discussions initiated by Searle's claim that computers have syntax, but no semantics has now past, yet philosophers and scientists still tend to frame their views on artificial intelligence in terms of syntax and semantics. In this paper I do not intend to take part in these discussions; my aim is more fundamental, viz. to ask what claims about syntax and semantics in this context can mean in the first place. And I argue that their sense is so unclear that that their ability to act…Read more
  •  41
    Moderate anti-exceptionalism and earthborn logic
    with Vladimír Svoboda
    Synthese 199 (3-4): 8781-8806. 2021.
    In this paper we put forward and defend a view of the nature of logic that we call moderate anti-exceptionalism. In the first part of the paper we focus on the problem of genuine logical validity and consequence. We make use of examples from current debates to show that attempts to pinpoint the one and only authentic logic inevitably either yield irrefutable theories or lead to dead ends. We then outline a thoroughly naturalist account of logical consequence as grounded in rules implicit in huma…Read more
  •  13
    Paul Horwich (ed.): Meaning (review)
    Erkenntnis 53 (3): 415-422. 2000.
  •  132
    Současné vědecké poznatky o vnímání: voda na mlýn pragmatismu?
    Teorie Vědy / Theory of Science 35 (3): 431-442. 2013.
    Nedávné vědecké poznatky týkající se lidského vnímání a lidského konání naznačují, že nejenom není konání bez vnímání, ale že není ani vnímání bez konání. Zcela se mění pohled na to, jak lidé vnímají ; a objevují se dokonce i extrémní názory, že vnímání a konání jsou vlastně jednou a toutéž věcí. Podobně se v důsledku zkoumání motivačních struktur stojících v základu tvorby teorií rozmývá ostrou hranici mezi teorií a praxí. Zdá se mi, že tohle všechno je poněkud překvapivá voda na mlýn filosofic…Read more
  •  178
    Člověk jako normativní tvor
    Teorie Vědy / Theory of Science 34 (1): 3-23. 2012.
    Člověk se od jiných živočišných druhů odlišuje mnoha způsoby, k nejpodstatnějším z nichž patří rozum, jazyk a také schopnost řídit se pravidly. V tomto textu argumentuji, že je to především ta poslední schopnost, která je klíčová a bez které jsou ty další nepředstavitelné. Člověk je společenská bytost nejenom v tom smyslu, že žije ve společenstvích, ale i v tom, že tato společenství jsou strukturována složitým pletivem pravidel, která zásadním způsobem determinují modus vivendi lidí, kteří je tv…Read more
  •  1
    A review of deVries' and O'Shea's books, both titled "Wilfrid Sellars". By Jaroslav Peregrin
  •  110
    Is inferentialism circular?
    Analysis 78 (3): 450-454. 2018.
    Variations on the argument “Inferences are moves from meaningful statements to meaningful statements; hence the meanings cannot be inferential roles” are often used as knock-down argument against inferentialism. In this short paper I indicate that the argument is simply a non sequitur.
  •  51
    Davidson and Sellars on “Two Images”
    Philosophia 46 (1): 183-192. 2018.
    Davidson’s anomalous monism is based on the assumption that a human being can be described or accounted for in two very different ways, using two very different and indeed incommensurable conceptual frameworks, namely the physicalistic vocabulary of science and the mentalistic vocabulary employed by the ‘theories’ we make about each other when we interact and communicate. Also Sellars maintains that we have two alternative pictures of the world and especially of us humans as its parts, namely th…Read more
  • Absolute and Relative Concepts In Logic
    In Ondrey Majer (ed.), The Logica Yearbook 2000, Filosofia. pp. 71--77. 2001.
  •  4
    Paul Horwich (ed.): Meaning (review)
    Erkenntnis 53 (3): 415-422. 2000.
  •  63
    Today, a steadily growing number of philosophers regard Wilfrid Sellars as a principal pillar not just of American analytic philosophy, but of twentieth century philosophy in general. But not so long ago, things were different: though Sellars has held the acclaim of a first-rate philosopher for a couple of decades, it is only recently that he has achieved the nimbus of a philosopher whom you must read. It is largely due to his outstanding disciples and followers, from Paul Churchland and Ruth Mi…Read more
  • Jonathan Culler: Saussure
    Organon F: Medzinárodný Časopis Pre Analytickú Filozofiu 1 (1): 83-85. 1994.