Brian Herbert Medlin (1927–2004) was Foundation[1] Professor of Philosophy at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1967 to 1988.

[2] He pioneered radical philosophy in Australian universities[3] and played an active role in the campaign against the Vietnam War.

During his university years he associated with writers such as John Bray, Charles Jury, Max Harris and Mary Martin.

[5] He met the British writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch in the early 1960s and on his return to Australia corresponded with her for several decades.

[9] He developed innovative courses in women's studies, and politics and art, and instituted a student-staff consultative committee.

"[3] In 1971 he was described as "spearheading the revolution" in philosophy which polarised academics in Australia when he draped a red flag over the podium at the conference of the Australian Association of Philosophers.

[2] These experiences contributed to his influential course on politics and the arts taught at Flinders University, which prompted the formation of the well-known Australian progressive rock band Redgum.

[4] After his retirement from Flinders University, Medlin moved to Victoria with his wife, Christine Vick, and spent some years regenerating a 10-acre property at Wimmera with native vegetation.

Hicks wrote, in reference to this essay, "Brian Medlin was representative" of his generation in tending to scepticism and non-naturalism.

[14] Medlin also wrote poetry, which was widely published in Australian periodicals through the 1950s and 1960s, and short fiction, often using the pseudonym Timothy Tregonning.