Profession: philosopher

Bloch brought a humanistic dimension to Marxist philosophy, embracing spiritual and cultural needs, and influenced liberation theology. He met Lukács at his teacher Simmel’s — an intimate friendship and intense philosophical partnership ensued. Jaspers was a fellow-member of a group of friends who met weekly at Weber’s (who wore his reserve officer’s uniform). Kracauer was a colleague on a Berlin journal, and corresponded for 40 years. Adorno, Weill, Brecht and Herzfelde were also friends, the last two colleagues in U.S. exile. Bloch and Benjamin took drugs together, assiduously annotating their experiences.

Initially known more as a mathematician, Sulzer grappled at length with the formation of a unified aesthetic theory, which stimulated the ultimately more influential ideas of the likes of Kant (a correspondent) and Schiller. Bodmer taught him in Zürich. Maupertuis, Euler and C. P. E. Bach were among those befriended in Berlin, where Lambert became a colleague; others met in Prussian enlightenment circles included Mendelssohn and Lessing, who both criticised his ideas as somewhat outmoded. Burney visited him in Berlin, as did Lavater and Fuseli (more recent students of Bodmer’s); Klopstock was his companion on a journey back to Switzerland.

Condillac attempted a rigorous understanding of the relations between sensation and cognition. D’Alembert was a long-term (and fond) friend, Rousseau another. Rousseau, met as wayward tutor to Condillac’s brother’s children, introduced him to Diderot: both were regular dining companions (as was Buffon), and Diderot helped him find a publisher. Maupertuis, Beccaria, La Condamine and Voltaire were all correspondents. Montesquieu and Marivaux were met at the salon run by d’Alembert’s mother; despite his closeness to d’Alembert and Diderot, it’s thought Condamine wasn’t an Encyclopédiste.