Survivor of Warsaw uprising pushed philosophical envelope in Melbourne

Philosopher, Publisher, Painter

20-4-1923 - 9-12-2008

"I WISH," wrote Jan Srzednicki in the foreword to his most recent book titled Norm and Discernment, "to record my indebtedness to all the authors with whom I disagree the most."

Those sentiments best summarise not only his professional life, in which he successfully challenged many long-standing interpretations of metaphysical theories of Kant and Wittgenstein, but his personal life in which he pushed the boundaries of conventional thinking and encouraged others to do the same.

Srzednicki, who has died of a heart attack while on a visit to Warsaw University, aged 85, began his philosophical studies at the "underground" Warsaw University during the German occupation of Poland in 1941.

In 1943, he joined the ranks of the Polish underground army, Armia Krajowa, as a junior officer and fought during the Warsaw uprising in 1944. He was captured and imprisoned at Camp Lamsdorf in Germany.

After the camp was liberated, he moved to Britain, and in 1950 emigrated to Australia. He continued his studies in philosophy at Melbourne University, and graduated in 1953. Seven years later he became the first Polish immigrant to obtain a doctorate from an Australian university.

Srzednicki pursued a scholarly career at Melbourne University, and went on to become professor of the philosophy department and later, in retirement, an honorary research associate at LaTrobe University.

He cultivated close contacts between Australian universities and others such as Oxford and Cambridge, as well as the Polish universities of Warsaw and Jagielonski in Cracow.

He published extensively in both English and Polish with classic philosophical texts such as Franz Brentano's Analysis of Truth, The Place of Space and Other Themes, and Klopoty Pojeciowe.

From 1970, Srzednicki was chief editor of a series of more than 60 philosophical texts of distinguished past and contemporary scholars from around the world, especially Poland.

His artistic interests were inspired and developed by his uncle, Konrad Srzednicki, who taught at the Polish Academy of Fine Arts (Akademia Sztuk Pieknych) in Warsaw before World War II, and went on to become head of the prestigious Akademia Sztuk Pieknych in Cracow after the war.

Srzednicki painted his first canvas, called Burning Warsaw (Plonaca Warszawa) in 1939, but it wasn't until the 1980s that he was recognised as a painter. Many joint and solo exhibitions followed.

One of his most recent solo exhibitions, titled Whatever Happened to My World & Other Paintings, was held at the Manningham Gallery in Doncaster in 1999.

In recent years, his health and vision, in particular, deteriorated rapidly but he continued to pursue his many passions including painting, writing, travelling and public speaking.

At the time of his death, he was visiting Poland and was discussing his latest "epistemic theory" with a colleague from the philosophy department of Warsaw University.

Dr Jacek Gibert was a longtime friend of Jan Srzednicki, who was also his mentor.