PhD Study Program
PhD study topics for the academic year 2024/2025
Tutor: prof. PhDr. Břetislav Horyna, PhD.
The Neo-Pyrrhonian skeptical tradition and its representatives in the second half of the 20th centuryAnnotation:The PhD student will work on the contribution of the most important figure of this tradition, the German philosopher Odo Marquard. The thesis will focus on Marquard’s continuation of the tradition of Pyrrhic skepticism and its further development when applied to modern conditions, on the notion of a philosophy of history, and on the concept of ethics (morality) and anthropology (habitualism, anthropology, homo compensator). On this basis, he attempts to confront his own attitudes to the questions posed by modern neo-Pyrrhonist skepticism: what shapes us; what we can influence; how we understand the political rules that govern society; whether we have the possibility of interpreting them in yet another way; how we move in constant conflict with multiplicity and unity, etc. |
Kant’s treatise “On Perpetual Peace” and contemporary political philosophyAnnotation:The starting point of this thesis is a critical analysis of the philosophical and political context of Kant’s treatise “Towards Perpetual Peace.” The graduate will explain the relationship between Kant’s political thought and transcendental philosophy, without the understanding of which the analysis of the concepts of Kant’s political philosophy is impossible. Thus, the author will focus on some of the main problems of Kant’s philosophy, which are hidden behind the terms freedom, law, the idea of law, the state, the state system, constitutionalism, liberalism, republicanism, cosmopolitanism, etc. The thesis will show how these main concepts of the philosophy of politics are formally and substantively defined by Kant himself and will compare Kant’s understanding of them with their understanding in contemporary political contexts, in particular the European Union. |
Concept of phenomenological anthropology in Hans Blumenberg’s workAnnotation:The student will work through the main works of Hans Blumenberg with a focus on his methodology of historical and phenomenological anthropology. The student will explain how this method conditioned Blumenberg’s conception of modernity, myth, and metaphor. |
Democracy adjourned: uncertainty as a characteristic of society in an environmental crisisAnnotation:The student will elaborate a problem analysis of the concept of political democracy in the epoch of the Anthropocene with reference to the tradition of critical theory of society and the theory of post-democracy, aversive democracy, simulation democracy and other ways of addressing the problem of democracy. |
Tutor: Mgr. Róbert Karul, PhD.
The absurd in contemporary philosophy: neutrality, absence of meaning, hopelessness, tragedyAnnotation:In the French philosophical tradition, the theme of the absurd is still present today and has been introduced by phenomenological thinkers such as E. Levinas (the notion of il y a) and M. Blachot (the notion of neutrality). More recently, this style of thought has been revived by thinkers such as A. Comte-Sponville (the notion of hopelessness), Clément Rosset (idiocy) and Marcel Conche (the tragic), among others. However, similar elements can also be traced in thinkers who do not make them the centre of their thought (despair in C. Romano). The dissertation will be an examination of conceptions of this tendency, with the intention of presenting an interpretation of the primarily negatively connoted terms that will serve as a starting point for a “positive” understanding of them (the idea of tragic wisdom in Conche is an example). |
Tutor: Mgr. Miloš Kosterec, PhD.
Moral responsibility – logical analysis of applicationAnnotation:Debates around moral responsibility belong among the most widespread and relevant in philosophy. The aim is to present novel arguments within the dichotomies in existing debates about moral responsibility and/or to present arguments for new ways of focusing on relevant problems. The use of analytic methods should lead to a model of arguments within a formal system. |
Transparent logicsAnnotation:In the field of hyperintensional context analysis, several transparent logics have emerged. The goal is a constructive comparison of existing solutions and a systematically grounded selection of one of these systems to address the relevant issues in the analysis of hyperintensional contexts. |
Tutor: Mgr. Marcel Martinkovič, PhD.
The Ideological influence of the Russian philosophical and political discourse of the 19th century on Slovak philosophical thinkingAnnotation:The doctoral thesis will analyze the ideological influence of the Russian philosophical and cultural environment on Slovak philosophical and political thinking. It will bring closer the ideological sources that fundamentally determined the perception of freedom, human dignity, religion and nation in the thinking of Slovak thinkers and their approach to the philosophy of history in the second half of the 19th century. The project examines the philosophical influence of Slavophiles on the spread of various interpretations of Slavic mutuality in the nation-building process. |
Concepts of the development of national culture in the philosophy of history by Štefan Polakovič and Svätopluk ŠtúrAnnotation:The doctoral thesis will analyze different concepts of the development of national culture in the thinking of Štefan Polakovič and Svätopluk Štúr within the philosophy of history. The research will focus on the characterization of a different way of reflecting the relationship between the individual and the nation within the process of national institutionalization. The project will bring closer the different philosophical sources of both thinkers and their political overlap, which participated in the formation of the monotypic and pluralistic concept of national culture. |
Tutor: prof. Dr. Phil. Martin Muránsky, PhD.
The Kantian egalitarian meaning of "dignity"Annotation:Kant’s concept of “dignity” as a normative starting point in thematizing the indivisibility of human rights is a key but still under-analyzed issue. The reflection on this relationship will be in two perspectives raised by E. Tugendhat: firstly, its anchoring in the principle of the relations of individual and collective autonomy, secondly, the elaboration of this normative starting point against the background of the ambivalent relationship of the right to property with the right to life. |
Kant’s Problem of “Radical Evil”Annotation:Kant’s theory of radical evil is closely linked to the broader concept of practical rationality and man’s responsibility for life as a whole. Reflection on this problem will consist, firstly, in elaborating the problem of the autonomy of “evil” in Kant’s historical concept and its modern equivalents, and secondly, in analyzing the changing concept of the “community of rational beings” in favor of its historicity. |
Tutor: Matteo Pascucci, PhD.
Modal logics and contextual reasoningAnnotation:In the thesis the student will focus on the philosophical and mathematical investigations into non-classical logics that can be used to analyze the syntactic and semantic behavior of modal notions in specific contexts, such as deontic reasoning, temporal reasoning, epistemic reasoning and doxastic reasoning. |
Normative reasoning and applicationsAnnotation:This research topic concerns the analysis of fundamental notions involved in everyday problems of normative reasoning, including ethical rules, moral values, deterministic vs. non-deterministic systems and theories of action. Moreover, it concerns the development of logical and computational tools for assisted reasoning in the normative domain, based on a formal representation of those notions. |
Tutor: prof. Mgr. Mgr. Peter Šajda, PhD.
The dynamics of negation in social conflictAnnotation:The phenomena of conflict and enmity are traditionally conceived of as undesirable, temporary and derived. The aim of the research is to continue a minority stream of thinking and explore these phenomena as constitutive parts of the composition of social relations. Fundamental oppositions of enmity and friendship, of that which is alien and that which is our own, can be understood as hierarchical and power-based structures. Simultaneously, they are, however, a necessary precondition for our orientation in the social world. By means of the movement of dialectical negation they represent the basis for creation and development of social identity. |
Tutor: doc. Mgr. Richard Sťahel, PhD.
The concept of environmental democracy: possibilities and limitsAnnotation:The concept of environmental democracy, as a theoretical framework of a possible political system of an environmentally and socially sustainable society in the expected climatic and demographic conditions of the Anthropocene, arises within the framework of environmental political philosophy. The doctoral thesis will be focused on the possibilities of formulating the concept of democracy respecting not only environmental security (Planetary boundaries) but also environmental and social justice. |
Development of the idea of environmental democracy within political ecologyAnnotation:Political ecology points to the determination of power relations by the state of the environment. In the framework of political and social ecology, there arose the idea of ecological, or environmental democracy, which in the climatic and demographic conditions of the Anthropocene is proving to be extremely relevant. The work aims to analyze the development of the idea of ecological, or environmental democracy within political and social ecology. |
Tutor: Prof. h.c. Jon Stewart, PhD.
Philosophy in the Post-Truth AgeAnnotation:It is often claimed that we live in a post-truth age where people have become suspicious of all truth claims, while conspiracy theories and misinformation thrive. These claims are often followed by laments about levelling, relativism, and nihilism. According to its etymology, philosophy means the love of wisdom or we might say the love of truth. If we live in a post-truth age, is there any room left for philosophy? What is the meaning of philosophy in such an age? Does philosophy face a crisis with the lapse of belief in the truth? |
Is Philosophy of History Possible Today?Annotation:While the philosophy of history was a thriving field in the 19th century, it has become increasingly insignificant in contemporary philosophy. Today both the postmodern and the analytic theories reject the idea of progress or meaning in history, which was central to traditional theories. Is it possible to do philosophy of history without these ideas? Is the philosophy of history still a viable field in philosophy today or should it be regarded as an antiquated paradigm? |
Tutor: PhDr. Daniela Vacek, PhD.
The problem(s) of control in the context of intelligent technologiesAnnotation:The control over intelligent technologies is a complex phenomenon that leads to several difficult questions, challenges, and problems: are we destined to lose the control over intelligent technologies? Who should have control, and which form of control they should have? Which form of control is morally acceptable? The thesis will provide answers to these questions. |
Intelligent technologies and responsibility gapsAnnotation:According to some researchers, intelligent technologies lead to gaps in responsibility that cannot be bridged; according to others, they lead to gaps in responsibility, but these gaps can be bridged; according to others still, they do not lead to gaps in responsibility at all. This thesis will analyze the problem of responsibility gaps and argue for one of these views. |
Tutor: Mgr. Martin Vacek, PhD.
Impossible worldsAnnotation:This PhD project investigates impossibility, specifically the relationship between the nature question — what impossibility is? — and the extent question — what impossibility there is? Impossible worlds have proven to be a useful apparatus in this regard. Following in the footsteps of their possible ancestors, impossible worlds provide a scope of applications that address the aforementioned questions. The project delves into these applications. |
Worldly and Non-Worldly HyperintensionalityAnnotation:Many philosophical problems are framed in terms of hyperintensional distinctions. Although these distinctions were initially introduced in a representational manner, various accounts treating hyperintensionality as a non-representational phenomenon have been developed. This PhD project builds on these accounts and will propose a novel worldly account of hyperintensionality. |
Tutor: doc. Mgr. Jaroslava Vydrová, PhD.
Research of subjectivity in feminist phenomenologyAnnotation:The possibilities of research of subjectivity, corporeality, and intersubjectivity are widened by taking into account feminist optics to include significant phenomena and experiences that both enrich and deepen the framework of phenomenological inquiry of the self, agency, and being in the world. We can find the starting points of feminist phenomenology in the works of E. Stein, M. Merleau-Ponty, S. de Beauvoir, E. Levinas, and others, as well as in contemporary interpretations and new treatments such as those of S. Heinämaa, L. Fisher, and A. Al-Saji. The thesis therefore presupposes knowledge of phenomenological philosophy and phenomenological method, as well as familiarity with contemporary debates within critical and feminist phenomenology. |