Where famous philosophers grew up and lived

Adam Smith1778–1790

📍 Panmure House, 129 Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8BW, UK

I was born in Kirkcaldy, a little port across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh, and raised by my mother, Margaret Douglas, for my father had died before I was born. Kirkcaldy's harbour…

Albert Schweitzer1913–1965

📍 Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, Lambaréné, Gabon

I arrived in Lambaréné in French Equatorial Africa — what is now Gabon — in 1913, to build a hospital in the jungle. I had given up careers in philosophy, theology and music to study…

Albrecht Dürer1509–1528

📍 Albrecht-Dürer-Straße 39, 90403 Nuremberg, Germany

I was the son of a goldsmith in Nuremberg, one of eighteen children, and at thirteen I drew my own face from a mirror in silverpoint — my first self-portrait. I trained in my father's…

Confucius

📍 Kong Miao (Temple of Confucius), Qufu, Shandong 273100, China

I was born Kong Qiu on the 28th of September 551 BC in the state of Lu — now Qufu in Shandong province, China. My father died when I was three and my mother raised me in modest…

Dante Alighieri1265–1302

📍 Casa di Dante, Via Santa Margherita 1, 50122 Florence, Italy

I was born in 1265 in the crowded heart of medieval Florence, in the Alighieri houses near the Torre della Castagna and the little church of San Martino del Vescovo, a few streets from the…

Friedrich Nietzsche1858–1864

📍 Nietzsche-Haus, Weingarten 18, 06618 Naumburg (Saale), Germany

My father, a Lutheran pastor, died when I was four, and my mother took my sister Elisabeth and me to Naumburg, a cathedral town on the Saale, where we lived in a household of women: my…

Henry David Thoreau1845–1847

📍 Walden Pond State Reservation, 915 Walden Street, Concord, MA 01742, USA

I was born in Concord and lived nearly all my life there, working at my family's pencil factory, surveying, and walking the woods, rivers and fields every single day. Near the end of March…

Jane Addams1889–1935

📍 800 S Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA

I co-founded Hull House on the Near West Side of Chicago in 1889 with Ellen Gates Starr, in a rundown mansion in one of the city's most impoverished immigrant neighbourhoods. We moved in…

José Martí1853–1895

📍 Havana Old Town, Cuba

I was born José Julián Martí Pérez on the 28th of January 1853 in Havana, the son of Spanish immigrants. I became the apostle of Cuban independence — the poet, journalist, and revolutionary…

Karl Marx1818–1819

📍 Karl-Marx-Haus, Brückenstraße 10, 54290 Trier, Germany

I was born at two in the morning on 5 May 1818, in an alcove of a rented apartment of six rooms in this baroque house on Brückenstraße in Trier, a small, ancient city on the Moselle full of…

Laozi

📍 Luyi, Henan, China

I was born Li Er — known to the world as Laozi, meaning Old Master — in the state of Chu in what is now Henan province, China, traditionally dated to around 601 BC though my historicity is…

Léopold Sédar Senghor1906–2001

📍 Joal-Fadiouth, Fatick, Senegal

I was born Léopold Sédar Senghor on the 9th of October 1906 in Joal-Fadiouth, a fishing village on the Petite Côte of Senegal, the son of a Serer Catholic merchant. Joal-Fadiouth — the…

Maimonides1138–1204

📍 Calle de los Judíos 18, 14004 Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain

I was born Moses ben Maimon on the 30th of March 1138 in Córdoba, the capital of Muslim-ruled Andalusia — one of the most intellectually alive cities in the medieval world, where Muslim…

Mao Zedong1893–1913

📍 Shaoshan Village, Shaoshan, Xiangtan, Hunan 411300, China

I was born in 1893 in Shaoshan, a village in Hunan province in central China, the son of a peasant farmer who had made himself prosperous through frugality and hard work. Shaoshan was a…

Marcus Aurelius121–138

📍 Caelian Hill, 00184 Rome, Italy

I was born in my family's house on the Caelian Hill in Rome in 121, a quiet district of aristocratic villas and gardens, with few public buildings and fine views across the city. My father…

Muhammad Yunus1940–1957

📍 Chittagong, Bangladesh

Muhammad Yunus was born in 1940 in the village of Bathua, near Hathazari, outside Chittagong, the third of fourteen children, nine of whom survived. When he was a small boy, the family…

Niccolò Machiavelli1513–1527

📍 Albergaccio, Via Scopeti 64, 50026 Sant'Andrea in Percussina, Italy

I grew up in Florence, where my father, a lawyer of modest means, loved books and taught me to love the Roman historians. For fourteen years I served the Florentine republic as a secretary…

Plato387 BC–347 BC

📍 Plato's Academy Park, Akadimia Platonos, 104 42 Athens, Greece

I was born into an aristocratic family in Athens and grew up expecting a life in politics. Then I met Socrates, and spent my youth following him through the marketplace, watching him…

Rabindranath Tagore1861–1901

📍 64 Dwarkanath Tagore Lane, Jorasanko, Kolkata 700007, West Bengal, India

Jorasanko was never merely a house — it was a civilisation in miniature. My grandfather Dwarkanath had built it as a centre of Bengali Renaissance culture, and by the time I was born the…

René Descartes1596–1606

📍 Musée Descartes, 29 Rue Descartes, 37160 Descartes, France

I was born in this house in the little town of La Haye in Touraine, on the River Creuse, in March 1596. It belonged to my grandmother, Jeanne Sain, and my mother had come here to give…

Saint Augustine354–430

📍 Thagaste (now Souk Ahras), Algeria

I was born Aurelius Augustinus around 354 AD in Thagaste in Roman North Africa — now Souk Ahras in Algeria. My mother Monica was devoutly Christian; my father Patricius was a pagan. I was…

Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha)

📍 Sacred Garden, Lumbini, Rupandehi District 32900, Nepal

I was born Siddhartha Gautama around 563 BC in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, the son of a king of the Shakya clan. My mother died a week after my birth. I grew up sheltered from suffering…

Socrates469 BC–399 BC

📍 Ancient Agora of Athens, Adrianou 24, 105 55 Athens, Greece

I was the son of a stonemason and a midwife, from the district of Alopeke just south of Athens. My father, Sophroniscus, taught me his trade, and for many years I worked stone. My mother…

Thomas Aquinas

📍 Roccasecca, 03038 Frosinone, Lazio, Italy

I was born Tommaso d'Aquino around 1225 at Roccasecca castle in the Kingdom of Sicily, the son of a count. My family intended me for Benedictine monasticism at the prestigious Monte…

Voltaire1759–1778

📍 Château de Voltaire, Allée du Château, 01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France

I was born François-Marie Arouet in Paris, the son of a lawyer, and educated by the Jesuits. My wit got me into trouble early: I was imprisoned in the Bastille and exiled to England, and my…