Profession: philosopher

He met and befriended Althusser (who taught him) on his first day as a student in Paris; Hyppolite, Foucault and Ricoeur also taught him, while Serres and Bourdieu were fellow-students. Blanchot, a close friend, was one of his influences. Jabès invited Derrida and Celan to lunch together, so the two could meet properly. De Man, Cixous, Lyotard and Deleuze were among his friends and intellectual colleagues (though revelations of de Man’s pro-fascist past proved unsettling). He gave funeral orations for his friend Lévinas, for Gadamer and for Althusser (Derrida had been his only permitted prison-hospital visitor).

Proust and Bergson knew each other through family connections: Proust always denied that Bergson’s ideas had been influential on his own writing (the strength of insistence has led some to believe this shouldn’t be taken too literally). The bilingual Bergson visited James when both were in London; James described him as a modest man, but intellectually a genius. The two had strong sympathy for each other’s work. Valéry was influenced by Bergson, though also disagreed with him. In the debate with Einstein, Bergson is generally regarded as having come off second best.

Ayer was the leading British logical positivist philosopher. Ryle taught him; Quine was the only other anglophone admitted to Vienna Circle meetings. Berlin, a friend and colleague, said he was more a mechanic than an inventor as a philosopher (their fathers, in the timber trade, also knew each other). He wrote about Russell, in whose tradition he followed, and joined Bronowski, Huxley and Medawar in radio discussions. Cummings was a lifelong (if unlikely) friend, despite Ayer’s fling with Cummings’ wife. He met Giacometti and Camus (but not Sartre, who called him “un con”).

He studied under Canguilhem and Hyppolite. Tournier was a fellow-student, and said he transformed his peers’ ideas into cannon-balls of iron and steel. Foucault proposed Deleuze for his university post and became a close friend; Guattari (with whom he wrote his most influential works), Derrida (another close friend) and Lyotard were also colleagues at Vincennes. Deleuze wanted to publish a long impromptu conversation with Derrida, but it never happened. Virilio and he were politically at odds with each other. When Lacan stayed with him after an ‘unbelieveable’ seminar, he had to drink a ‘special’ whisky.