Philosophy cannot be separated from the life and time of the philosopher. What appears in textbooks as a philosophical problem was in fact all too often the problem of a philosopher. The aim of this book is to provide access to the central concepts and questions of philosophy through a biographical, sometimes anecdotal approach. Be portrayed: Socrates, Plato, Augustine, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Popper, Heidegger, Adorno, Anders and Arendt.