Doc. Ondřej Beran, Ph.D.

Head of Doctoral Studies

Email: ondrej.beran@upce.cz

Phone: +420 466 036 634

Location: 06023, building G

 

Research interests
philosophy of language, ethics, environmental philosophy, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, phenomenology, AI, time and memory, feminist philosophy, Ludwig Wittgenstein

Academia.edu profile: https://upce.academia.edu/OndřejBeran

ORCID: 0000-0003-2553-5872


Currently

  • researcher at the Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value, University of Pardubice (since 2017)
  • Head of PhD studies in Philosophy; Director of the M.A. program Ethics and Political Philosophy
  • Docent (Associate Professor) in Philosophy (since 2021)
  • member of the editorial board of the journal Filosofie dnes
  • member of the editorial board of the book series Dnešní svět in the publishing house Filosofia


Courses taught

  • History of Political Philosophy
  • Advanced Ethics I
  • Problems of Political Philosophy II
  • 20th Century Analytical Philosophy (in Czech)


PhD projects supervised

  • David Rozen, Attitudes towards the Environment, their Ethical Relevance and the Possibilities of their Transformation
  • Patrick Keenan, We Are All Geniuses in Utopia. Towards a Philosophy of Solarpunk (successfully defended 2024)
  • Mira Reyes, Otherwise than Anthropocentrism: Levinas Face-to-Face with the Animal (successfully defended 2023)

I am available for supervision of PhD projects in areas of my research interest (as listed above) 


Former affiliations

  • 2016-2016 researcher at the Department of Philosophy, University of Hradec Králové
  • 2013-2015 researcher at the Research Center for the Theory and History of Science, University of West Bohemia in Plzeň
  • 2011-2015 researcher at the Institute of Philosophy (Department for the study of Modern rationality) of the AS CR in Prague
  • 2009-2011 post-doc at the Center for Theoretical Study (Charles University in Prague & AS CR)
  • 2008-2009, 2013-2017 researcher at the Institute of Philosophy (Department of Logic) of the AS CR in Prague


Education

  • 2008 – Ph.D. in Systematic Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague (supervisor Jaroslav Peregrin, Ph.D. thesis “Language and Individuality”)
  • 2004 – Mgr. (M.A.) in Latin and Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague

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PUBLICATIONS
 

Monographs

  1. Examples and Their Role in Our Thinking, New York: Routledge, 2021.
  2. Living with Rules, Berlin: Peter Lang, 2018.
  3. Když je řeč o barvách [Speaking of Colours; in Czech], Červený Kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2015.
  4. "Střední” Wittgenstein: Cesta k fenomenologii a zase zpátky [The “Middle” Wittgenstein: The way to phenomenology and back again; in Czech], Červený Kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2013.
  5. Soukromé jazyky [Private Languages; in Czech], Praha, Filosofia: 2012.
  6. Náš jazyk, můj svět [Our Language, My World; in Czech], Praha: Filosofia, 2010.

 

Edited books

  1. O. Beran, L. Candiotto, N. Forsberg, A. Fredriksson, D. Rozen (eds.), The Philosophy of Environmental Emotions: Grief, Hope, and Beyond, New York: Routledge, 2024.
  2. O. Beran, K. Pacovská (eds.), Wittgensteinovská etika [Wittgensteinian Ethics], Červený Kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2022.
  3. O. Beran, K. Pacovská (eds.), Problémy etiky I [Problems of Ethics I], Červený Kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2022.
  4. O. Beran, K. Pacovská (eds.), Problémy etiky II [Problems of Ethics II], Červený Kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2022.
  5. O. Beran, M. Cíbik, K. Pacovská (eds.), Základní etické teorie [Basic Ethical Theories], Červený Kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2022.
  6. S. Aldrin Salskov, O. Beran, N. Hämäläinen (eds.), Ethical Inquiries after Wittgenstein, Cham: Springer, 2022.
  7. O. Beran, V. Kolman, L. Koreň (eds.), From Rules to Meanings, New York: Routledge, 2018.

 

Guest-edited journal issues

  1. O. Beran, A. Fredriksson (eds.), The Emotions of Late Anthropocene in Visual Arts, special issue of Visual Resources 38 (2022/2024), no. 1.

 

Journal Articles

  1. "Ecological Grief Observed from a Distance", Philosophies 9 (2024), 37.
  2. "Don't Look Askance", Visual Resources 38 (2022/2024): 66-86.
  3. "Ailments of the Soul", New Blackfriars 105 (2024): 428-444.
  4. "Learning from Examples. The Human and the Non-Human", Distinctio 2.2 (2023): 59-84.
  5. "'The Fitting Word'", Nordic Wittgenstein Review 12 (2023): 54-76.
  6. (with Kai Marchal) "Iris Murdoch between Buddhism and Christianity: Moral change, Conceptual Loss/Recovery, Unselfing", International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 83 (2022): 180-199.
  7. "Flattening the Curve of Moral Imagination", Organon F 29 (2022): 174-199.
  8. "Who Should Have Children? (Us?) When Should We Have Children? (Now?)", SATS 23 (2022): 55-74.
  9. "The Moral Luck of Rules", Philosophical Investigations 45 (2022): 21-39.
  10. "Rheesovi Stavitelé. Krok za Wittgensteina?" [Rhees' Builders: A Step beyond Wittgenstein?"; in Czech], Reflexe 61 (2021): 105-115.
  11. "'Morální intuice'. Co si můžeme nebo máme odnést z četby Haidta" ["'Moral Intuitions'. What We Can of Should Learn from Reading Haidt"; in Czech], Filosofie dnes 13 (2021), 2: 3-43.
  12. "To Each Incel According to His Needs?", SATS 22 (2021): 191-213.
  13. "'Environmentalism without Ideology' and the Dreams of Wiping out Humanity", Philosophy and Society 32 (2021): 439-459.
  14. "'A to se vyplatí!' Morálka jako spolupráce?" ["'And That Pays Off!' Morality as Cooperation?"; in Czech], Reflexe 60 (2021): 5-28.
  15. "The Wisdom of Insight", Philosophy East and West 71 (2021): 562-581.
  16. "O čem se nedá mluvit, o tom se musí zpívat, nebo aspoň rapovat" ["Whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must sing, or at least rap"; in Czech], Filosofický časopis 68 (2020): 289-302.
  17. "Addiction as degradation of Life", Ethics and Medicine 35 (2019): 171-190.
  18. "Love in the Absence of Judgment", Philosophy and Literature 43 (2019): 519-534.
  19. "Science, Knowledge, and Understanding. Wittgenstein between Phenomenology and Positivism", Horizon 8 (2019): 460-486.
  20. "Problémy s teodiceou ve wittgensteinovské tradici” ["Problems with Theodicy in the Wittgensteinian Tradition"; in Czech], Filosofický časopis 67 (2019): 361-381.
  21. "'Give Me an Example': Peter Winch and Learning from the Particular", Nordic Wittgenstein Review 7.2 (2018): 49-75.
  22. "Ryle, čtenář Austenové. Behaviorismus jako průhled do lidských srdcí" ["Ryle, a reader of Austen. Behaviourism as an insight into human hearts"; in Czech], Filosofický časopis 66 (2018): 75-96.
  23. "An Attitude Towards an Artificial Soul? Responses to the 'Nazi Chatbot'", Philosophical Investigations 41 (2018): 42-69.
  24. “Misunderstanding the Talk(s) of the Divine”, Sophia 56 (2017): 183-205.
  25. "The Role of the 'Private' in Inter-Gender Misunderstanding", Organon F 24 (2017): 142-165.
  26. “Rules and Acts of Considerateness”, Ethical Perspectives 22 (2015): 395-418.
  27. “Feminist Epistemology and a Fictional Narrative on Love”, Minerva 19 (2015): 37-63.
  28. “Je feministická filosofie vědy politicky korektní?” [“Is Feminist Philosophy of Science Politically Correct?”; in Czech], Teorie vědy 37 (2015): 29-50.
  29. “Co znamená dělat fenomenologii (jedněma z možných očí filosofie jazyka)” [“What It Means to Do Phenomenology (from a possible viewpoint of philosophy of language)”; in Czech], Filosofický časopis, mimořádné číslo 1 (2015): 11-29.
  30. “Kam dosáhne 'lidský předsudek'” [“How Far the 'Human Prejudice' Reaches”; in Czech], Filosofický časopis 63 (2015): 733-747.
  31. “Příklady a pravidla při osvojování dovednosti” [“Examples and Rules in Acquiring a Skill”; in Czech], Organon F 22 (2015): 90-108.
  32. “Wittgensteinian Perspectives on the Turing Test”, Studia Philosophica Estonica 7.1. (2014): 35-57.
  33. “Traumatické vzpomínky a jednání” [“Traumatic Memories and Action”; in Czech], Filosofie dnes 6 (2014), 2: 22-42.
  34. “Basic Color Categories in the Language-Game Perspective”, Organon F 19 (2012): 423-443.
  35. “Několik poznámek k fenomenologii a normativitě situace závislosti” [“Some Remarks on the Phenomenology and Normativity of Addiction”; in Czech], Filosofie dnes 4 (2012), 1: 81-101.
  36. “Několik poznámek k problematice individuality” [“Some Remarks on the Issue of Individuality”; in Czech], Filosofický časopis 59 (2011): 837-850.
  37. “Slabší, silnější a mystické” [“The Weaker, the Stronger and the Mystical”; in Czech], Filosofický časopis, mimořádné číslo 2 (2010): 135-156.
  38. "Normativita nespolupráce" ["The Normativity of Non-Cooperation"; in Czech], Filosofie Dnes 2 (2):41-57 (2010)
  39. “Nerozumění” [“Misunderstanding”; in Czech], Filosofický časopis 57 (2009), 5: 683-708.
  40. “Wittgenstein, Husserl a Heidegger – intersubjektivita smyslu” [“Wittgenstein, Husserl and Heidegger – the intersubjectivity of sense”; in Czech], Filosofický časopis 54 (2006), 4: 523-559.

 

Book Chapters

  1. "Friendship and Politics", in Beran - Candiotto - Forsberg - Fredriksson - Rozen (eds.), The Philosophy of Environmental Emotions, New York: Routledge, 2024: 189-205.
  2. "A Light-hearted Pessimism", in Campbell (ed.), The Philosophy of Transformative Experience, New York: Routledge, 2024: 88-107.
  3. "Soul, not mind, out there in the world. Platonic inclinations in reading Wittgenstein”, in Hrachovec – Mácha (eds.), Platonism, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024: 423-440.
  4. "The Other Modern Séances", in Strandberg - Strandberg (eds.), Jan Patočka and the Phenomenology of Life after Death, Cham: Springer, 2024: 99-120.
  5. "Conversational Machinations", in: Aldrin Salskov - Beran - Hämäläinen (eds.), Ethical Inquiries after Wittgenstein, Cham: Springer, 2022: 255-272.
  6. (with Camilla Kronqvist) "Living with love in today’s world: philosophical reflections on some of its complexities", in: Mayer - Vanderheiden (eds.), International Handbook of Love. Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives, Cham: Springer, 2021: 621-637.
  7. "Metaphor as that which makes us see", in: Bartczak - Mácha (eds.), Wallace Stevens and the Philosophy of Language, Berlin: Peter Lang, 2018: 139-158.
  8. "Governed by Rules, or Subject to Rules?", in: Beran - Kolman - Koreň (eds.), From Rules to Meanings, New York: Routledge, 2018: 278-292.
  9. “In Search for Memory”, in: Romportl - Ircing - Žáčková - Polák - Schuster (eds.), Beyond AI: Artificial Golem Intelligence, Plzeň: University of West Bohemia, 2013: 122-136.
  10. “Jazyk, barvy, matematizace” [“Language, Colours, Mathematisation”; in Czech], in: Kůrka – Matoušek – Velický (eds.), Spor o matematizaci světa, Červený kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2012: 245-262.
  11. “Individuality and Inferences”, in Gurova (ed.), Inference, Consequence, Meaning, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholar Publishers, 2012: 115-129.
  12. “Myšlení řeči jako způsob jak bojovat s (a zvítězit nad?) pokušením metafyziky” [“Thinking of Language as a Way of Fighting against (and Overcoming?) the Temptation of Metaphysics”; in Czech], in: Šimsa – Sousedík – Nitsche (eds.), Návrat metafyziky?, Prague: Filosofia, 2009: 389-419.

 

Reviews and review studies

  1. "Ethics, Society and Politics: Themes from the Philosophy of Peter Winch, eds. Michael Campbell and Lynette Reid", Nordic Wittgenstein Review 10 (2021-2022): 163-166.
  2. “Císař Karel – Koťátko, Petr (ed.), Beckett: filosofie a literatura” [in Czech], Filosofický časopis 59 (2011): 443–446.
  3. “Ernest Gellner o Wittgensteinovi” ["Ernest Gellner on Wittgenstein"; in Czech], Reflexe 31 (2007): 144-149.
  4. “Thomas Rentsch, Heidegger und Wittgenstein” [in Czech], Reflexe 30 (2006): 128-134.

 

Book translations into Czech

  1. Wittgenstein, L., O filosofii psychologie [Bemerkungen über die Philosophie der Psychologie. Letzte Schriften über die Philosophie der Psychologie], Červený Kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2022.
  2. Wittgenstein, L., Filosofické poznámky [Philosophische Bemerkungen], with a commentary (pp. 9-45) by O. Beran, Praha: Filosofia, 2015.
  3. Soukromé jazyky: čítanka [Private Languages: A Reader], ed. by O. Beran, Praha: Filosofia, 2013.
  4. Wittgenstein, L., Poznámky o barvách [Bemerkungen über die Farben], with a commentary (pp. 9-57) by O. Beran, Praha: Filosofia, 2010.
  5. Dupré, B., 50 Filosofických myšlenek, které musíte znát [50 Philosophy Ideas You Really Need to Know], Praha: Slovart 2010.

 

Article translations into Czech

  1. Rhees, R., "Wittgensteinovi stavitelé" ["Wittgenstein's Builders"], Reflexe 61 (2021): 91-104.
  2. Frankfurt, H., “Nutnosti spojené s láskou” ["Necessities of Love"], in: Pacovská – Hejduk (eds.), Filosofie lásky a přátelství, Červený Kostelec: Nakladatelství Pavel Mervart, 2017: 181-199.
  3. Rorty, A. O., “Historicita psychologických postojů” ["Historicity of Psychological Attitudes"], in: Filosofie lásky a přátelství: 259-280.
  4. Velleman, J. D., “Láska jako morální emoce” ["Love as a Moral Emotion"], in: Filosofie lásky a přátelství: 201-257.
  5. Wittgenstein, L., “Poznámky k přednáškám o ‘soukromé zkušenosti’ a ‘smyslových datech’” ["Notes for lectures on ‘private experience’ and ‘sense data’"], Filosofický časopis 57 (2009): 645-681.
  6. Wittgenstein, L., “Poznámky o Frazerově Zlaté ratolesti” ["Bemerkungen über Frazers The Golden Bough"], Filosofický časopis 54 (2006): 561-576.

 

Article translations into English

  1. Patočka, J., "The Phenomenology of Afterlife", in Strandberg - Strandberg (eds.), Jan Patočka and the Phenomenology of Life after Death, Cham: Springer, 2024: 13-24.

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Presentations (selected, recent, invited (for the most part))

  • "'Already We Have Taken Our Medicine'", The Wittgenstein and von Wright Seminar, University of Helsinki, 8 October 2024
  • "The Impasses and Openings of Climate Hope", CAPE Lecture, University of Kyoto, 20 May 2024
  • "The (Im)possibilities of Philosophical Advice", The Wittgenstein and von Wright Seminar, University of Helsinki, 13 November 2023
  • "Lucid Pessimism, Lucid Despair", workshop Transformative Experiences, Kyoto, 7-10 March 2023
  • "Learning from Examples", National Chengchi University, Taipei, 3 March 2023
  • "Ailments of the Soul", Contextual Ethics III, Uppsala, 23-24 May 2022
  • "Who Should Have Children? (Us?) When Should We Have Children? (Now?)", European-American Online Workshop in Philosophy of Emotions, 8 December 2021
  • "'The Fitting Word'", New Perspectives on Wittgenstein on Expression workshop series, 1 April 2021
  • "Living with Love" (with Camilla Kronqvist), Dept. of Philosophy, Åbo Akademi, 4 November 2019
  • "Disappointment and Condescension", EPSSE conference, Pisa, 10th-11th June 2019; workshop Partisanship and Compassion in a Time of Populism, London, 27th-28th August 2019
  • "Každému incelovi podle jeho potřeb?", Jednota filosofická, Olomouc, 21 November 2018; LMS Center, Hradec Králové, 27 February 2019.        
  • "The Moral Import of Examples, and Learning from them", workshop Philosophy and Wisdom: a New Perspective, Zürich, 20-21st July 2018.
  • "Moral Luck of Rules", workshop The Nature of Normativity, Prague, 16th-17th October 2017
  • "Give Me an Example", conference Truth in Politics and Metaphysics, London, 30th June-2nd July 2017
  • "Metaphor as that which makes us see", conference PhiLang 2017, Lodz, 12th-14th May 2017
  • "Governed by Rules, or Subject to Rules?", conference Why Rules Matter, Prague, 2nd-4th November 2016
  • "In the Absence of Judgment", workshop Love, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, London, 2nd September 2016
  • "Languages of Love and Literature", 39th International Wittgenstein Symposium (Aesthetics Today), Kirchberg am Wechsel, 7th-13th August 2016
  • "Understanding a Religious Practice", 7th Nordic Wittgenstein Society conference (Wittgenstein and Pragmatism), Helsinki, 15th-16th May 2016
     

Grants, Scholarships and Research Stays

  • May 2024 – visiting lecturer at National Chengchi University, Taipei
  • 2022-2024 – "ECEGADMAT"  (project no. 22-15446S of the Czech Science Foundation), principal investigator
  • short-term research stays at the universities of Lausanne, Salzburg, and Genova 
  • 2017-2022 – “Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value” (project no. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000425 in the operational programme Research, Development and Education of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic), researcher
  • 2017 – “The Wretched Self” (project no. 17-12197S of the Czech Science Foundation; project awarded, not investigated), principal investigator
  • December 2013-May 2014 – sabbatical research stay in UK
  • 2013-2017 – “The Nature of Normativity” (project no. 13-20785S of the Czech Science Foundation), researcher
  • January-April 2011 – Fulbright Scholarship, Pennsylvania State University
  • 2011-2015 – “Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophy: A Systematic Companion” (project no. P401/11/1934 of the Czech Science Foundation), researcher
  • 2010-2012 – “The Individual and the Private: the Perspective of Linguistic Philosophy” (project no. P401/10/P266 of the Czech Science Foundation), principal investigator
  • 2008-2009 – Jan Hus Educational Foundation Scholarship
  • October-December 2007 – DAAD Scholarship, Technische Universität Dresden
  • 2005–2007 “Graduate Center for logical foundations for semantics and representation of knowledge” (project no. GD401/03/H047 of the Czech Science Foundation) - member of the center
     

Conferences organised

  • Environmental Grief, Hope, and Beyond; Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, 28th-30th August 2023 (organised with Antony Fredriksson and David Rozen)
  • Death and Afterlife; Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, Pardubice, 8th-10th November 2021 (organised with Niklas Forsberg)
  • Partisanship and Compassion in a Time of Populism, King's College, London, 27th-28th August 2019 (organised with Tony Milligan)
  • Love and Justice; Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, Pardubice, 4th-6th September 2018 (organised with Niklas Forsberg and Joseph Wiinikka-Lydon)
  • Situating the Human; Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, Pardubice, 26th-28th September 2017 (organised with Matej Cíbik, Niklas Forsberg, Tomáš Hejduk, and Ondřej Krása)
  • Ethics in Context; Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, Pardubice, 19th May 2017
  • Umění neštěstí, selhání a utrpení [Art of Affliction, Failure and Suffering], Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Science, Prague, 6th March 2015 (organised with Kamila Pacovská)
  • Nature of Rules and Normativity; Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Science, Prague, 17th–19th September 2014 (organised with Jaroslav Peregrin)