Józef M. Bocheński (1902–1995) was among the most distinguised Polish philosophers of the twentieth century. Such was the depth and breadth of his erudition that he was equally proficient in the history of Western philosophy as in contemporary continental and and anglo-american philosophy. As for his contributions to logic, his pioneering investigations in the history of logic—including Indian logic—were highly regarded by the best logicians of the twentieth century. Bocheński achieved world-wide reputation thanks to his comprehensive history of logic, Formale Logik, published in 1956 (translated as Formal Logic in 1961). Alongside these achievements another major area of his research concerned Marxist philosophy in the Soviet Union. Together with several collaborators he founded, at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, the Institute of East European Studies (Ost-Europa Institut/Institut de l’Europe orientale) in 1957 with the aim of systematically studying Soviet philosophy in all its aspects.