Department of Logic

The research programme of the Department of Logic spans a broad range of topics in logic and analytically oriented philosophy. It focuses particularly on the philosophical dimensions of logical theories and on the application of logical methods in philosophy, while also encompassing the mathematical and historical study of logic.

The logical analysis of natural language has long been one of the Department’s central research interests. Its members investigate both general questions concerning the relationship between formal logical systems and informal reasoning, and the analysis of particular types of sentences and inferences within specific logical frameworks.

Another major area of research concerns the philosophical and technical aspects of selected non-classical logical systems, including deontic logic, the logic of questions, and various forms of epistemic logic. The philosophical foundations of constructive type theory likewise constitute an important strand of the Department’s research.

A further significant component of the Department’s research programme is the study of rules and normativity in general, including their origins, nature, and role not only in logic but more broadly in human communities and human thought. One specific subproject in this area is the development of inferentialism, a logical and philosophical doctrine according to which the meaning of expressions is fundamentally determined by their inferential roles. This line of research is associated primarily with Jaroslav Peregrin and his collaborators.