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22Tacit consent and political legitimacyEuropean Journal of Political Theory. forthcoming.Though historically important, the notion of tacit consent plays little role in contemporary discussions of political legitimacy. The idea, in fact, is often dismissed as obviously implausible. The ambition of this paper is to challenge this assumption and show that tacit consent can become a key ingredient in a theory of legitimacy. Instead of defining tacit consent through residence (where, according to John Locke or Plato's Socrates, staying in the country amounts to tacitly consenting to its…Read more
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14Elected Extremists, Political Communication and the Limits of ContainmentTopoi 42 (2): 583-591. 2023.The paper examines the complex relation between anti-democratic forces (“the extremists”) and the broader liberal-democratic institutional environment. The task of containing extremists is analysed both from a theoretical standpoint and in terms of its practical feasibility. I argue that the realities of political communication and the character of political argumentation make containing extremism in practice a much more daunting proposition than is usually understood in the literature. Insights…Read more
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40Conspiracy theories and reasonable pluralismEuropean Journal of Political Theory 21 (3): 445-465. 2022.The popularity of conspiracy theories poses a clear challenge for contemporary liberal democracies. Conspiracy theories undermine rational debate, spread dangerous falsehoods and threaten social cohesion. However, any possible public policy response, which would try to contain their spread, needs to respect the liberal commitment to protect pluralism and free speech. A successful justification of such a policy must therefore: 1) clearly identify the problematic class of conspiracy theories; and …Read more
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105Conspiracy theories and reasonable pluralismEuropean Journal of Political Theory 21 (3): 147488511989923. 2020.The popularity of conspiracy theories poses a clear challenge for contemporary liberal democracies. Conspiracy theories undermine rational debate, spread dangerous falsehoods and threaten social co...
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76On the Immorality of TattoosThe Journal of Ethics 24 (2): 193-206. 2020.Tattoos are widely regarded as morally neutral, and the decision to have them as carrying no ethical implications. The aim of this paper is to question this assumption. I argue that decisions to have tattoos involve risks that are not merely prudential—they are normative. The argument starts with a thesis that the power we presently have over our lives is constrained by the need to respect our future selves. If we make a discretionary choice that disregards our future interests and preferences, …Read more
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42Expectations and ObligationsEthical Theory and Moral Practice 21 (5): 1079-1090. 2018.Ever since the publication of Scanlon’s Promises and Practices and What We Owe to Each Other, expectations have become an important topic within discussions on promises. However, confining the role of expectations to promises does not do justice to their importance in creating obligations more generally. This paper argues that expectations are one of the major sources of obligations created within our personal relationships. What we owe to our friends, partners, or siblings very often follows ne…Read more
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2Kant and Rawls on the Neutrality of a Liberal StateFilozofia 66 (5): 481-485. 2011.The conflict between perfectionism and the neutrality of a liberal state is one of the burning issues of contemporary liberalism and political philosophy as a whole. The paper examines the roots of the perfectionist as well as neutralistic thinking, which are found in the philosophies of Immaneul Kant and John Rawls respectively. Through the reconsideration of the latter the character of the conflict can also be redefined. The aim of the paper is to show the basic difference between the above me…Read more
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Rawlsian Constructivism and the Conception of Human Rights by Ladislav HejdánekEthics and Bioethics (in Central Europe) 4 (1-2): 41-48. 2014.In spite of the iron curtain looming large between western academics and their (often politically persecuted and institutionally detached) colleagues in the eastern bloc, some intellectual developments bear striking similarities. This paper analyses one of them: the conception of human rights by Ladislav Hejdánek as opposed to Kantian constructivism, which was developed in the “west” by John Rawls and others. Both Rawls and Hejdánek, who was one of the philosophical heavyweights of Czech dissent…Read more
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University of PardubiceAssistant Professor
Areas of Interest
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy of Social Science |