Stirner's The Ego and its Own (1844) is striking in both style and content, attacking Feuerbach, Moses Hess and others to sound the death-knell of Left Hegelianism. The work also constitutes an enduring critique of liberalism and socialism from the perspective of an extreme eccentric individualism. Stirner has latterly been portrayed variously as a precursor of Nietzsche, a forerunner of existentialism, an individualist anarchist, and as manifestly insane. This edition includes an Introduction placing Stirner in his historical context.
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"Recommended as a classic in anarchist thought. This is the best edition available." --Reader's Review
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German
Original Language: German
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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Ego and His Own", the testament of the philosophic incendiary Max Stirner, remains, one hundred and fifty years after its appearance, the most subversive, the most antisocial, the most radical book in the history of political thought. Writing in a highly idiosyncratic idiom, Stirner launches an extreme and uncompromising attack on Christianity, the state, society, the family, socialism and revolts against the monarchy of abstract ideas, as exemplified by the entire rational tradition of Western philosophy. His book represents the culmination of Left Hegelianism. In the place of moral imperatives, he postulates the will of the sovereign egoist, who lives untrammelled by convention or authority. Rights, obligations, duties do not exist. The might of the ego is the sole determining factor in conduct. He takes his doctrine to its logical conclusion and, at times, to its illogical extreme by urging reasons for crime against all institutions and in the egoist's bid for power in the war of each against all, the arena of which is the embattled socius. He has been interpreted as a harbinger of Fascism and, among other things, an important proto-Nietzschean thinker. He bears many resemblances to his successor Nietzsche, as in how he champions egoism, celebrates the passions, and also in his call for a transvaluation of existing values and the need to create one's life anew. But there is a crucial difference: Stirner, a disciple of Hegelian idealism, is critical; Nietzsche, assertive. Stirner's egoism is spontaneous and capricious while Nietzsche's semi-altruistic egoism always has the highest social end in view. A must for those who want to discover a forgotten classic of political thought.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
He has been variously interpreted as an anarcho-egoist, an early existentialist, a protofascist who influenced the thought of Mussolini, a frontrunner of Nietzsche and as a nihilist maniac whose thirst for blood could never be quenched... an iconoclast who aimed to live above society, untramelled by moral conventions... In his defence of the sovereignty of the individual will, Max Stirner launches a brutal and uncompromising assault on the state, society, religion, the family. Also one of the most potent criticisms of humanism, liberalism and communism put forward, Stirner was one of the first to accurately prophesy the tyranny that communism would engender once established. Stylistically, it ranges from cutting aphoristic precision to opaqueness,self-contradiction and repetition, but nonetheless a profound, stimulating presentation of a highly eccentric position of political thought.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"What is supposed to be my concern. First and foremost the Good Cause, then God's Cause, the cause of mankind, of truth, of freedom, of humanity, of justice; further, the cause of my people, my prince, my fatherland; finally, even the cause of my mind. Only MY cause is never to be my concern. 'Shame on the egoist who thinks only of himself.'"
In this, the first paragraph of his powerful book, Max Stirner sets the stage. His cause? 'Nothing.' His goal? To stop at nothing. In The Ego and It's Own (more literally translated to The Person and His Property) Stirner tries making the case for anarchism based on individualism, rebelling against the collectivist strand professed by Proudhon and Godwin before him.
When Stirner says he 'base[s his] cause on nothing,' what is meant. Simply, he takes nothing (even our supposed self evident truths like right to life) as givens. Everything is questionalbe; nothing immune. So really, this book is not for the squeamish. First, he takes apart religion for setting a 'transcendental' cause higher than the individual. Then he attacks the concept of the state- and socialism- for doing the same. Then he takes apart concepts of 'rights' becuase without a god to grant them and a state to inforce them, what right do I have to live if you kill me? To clarify, Stirner does believe in cooperation for each party's benefit; just not coerced in ANY way.
While Stirner is said to be a precursor to Nietzsche, there is no evidence that Nietzsche knew of him. In fact, the biggest influence he might've had (in print) is Marx's 300 page(!) critique of Stirner in his German Ideology. I've not read it, but it's clear that Marx has a lot to wrestle with.
Now for the subtracted star. Stirner, while being an egoist, is somewhat of an egotist. He repeats the same things many times and a reader would not miss much if she cut out 150 pages early. Secondly, and it must be said, Stirner is not profound because he is philosophically challenging. He is not; then again neither are most anarchists. He is profound because he has the gumption to say what no one else will. He even questions why it is considered bad to sleep with one's sister. Can we argue? Hmmm.... What are you staring at me for, read the book already!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
THE CLASSIC WORK OF "EGOISM," OR INDIVIDUALISTIC ANARCHISM
"Max Stirner" is the pen name of Johann Kaspar Schmidt (1806-1856), and this 1844 book is a true masterpiece of individualist anarchism. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steven H. Propp
The End of All Things
Stirner's is a dark vision. It comprises the end of history, the end of philosophy and the end of value hitherto construed. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Einzige
The most significant thing ever scratched from a pen.
Discovering this book 10 years ago literally changed my life. It is the most profound work of ethical theory ever written, and infinitely more honest and less pretentiously... Read more
Published 18 months ago by H. G. Nelson
New Study on Stirner
For those of you who are interested in a new study of Stirner's egoism and its influence, I suggest my new book John F. Read more
Published 22 months ago by John F. Welsh
Brilliant
Max Stirner was clearly among the most gifted of the young Hegelian's, and this mysterious text is was an obvious influence on the style and form of Nietzsche's thought. Read more
Published on February 18, 2010 by Mr. Steiner
Max Stirner - Crook or Crank?
Stirner: The Ego and its Own (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
An excellent book for anyone interested in the philosophy of anarchy (if that isn't an... Read more
An excellent book for anyone interested in the philosophy of anarchy (if that isn't an... Read more
Published on May 16, 2009 by Mr. R. A. Peek
Review from Branddenotes.blogspot.com
I remember reading Stirner as a sort of radical libertarian (back in his time considered something of an anarchist), much more intelligent and interesting than libertarians of... Read more
Published on September 21, 2008 by J.P. Franks
Yours to OWN
Dialectical recipe: Smash Emerson and Schopenhauer into one and add bits of Macchiaveli and Callicles and there you have Max Stirner. Read more
Published on June 1, 2008 by Alaric
Almost but not entirely !!!
To make this blunt and clear I have absolutely no problem with Max Stirners' philosophy (EGOISM). However, on one essential point Max Stirner seems to have travelled the road... Read more
Published on November 28, 2005 by Madd Atheist
Ayn Rand could have written this book.
But she didn't. Someone else did, nearly a century before anyone had ever heard of Ayn Rand. Yet somehow Ayn Rand got the credit for "originating" the philosophy in this... Read more
Published on August 30, 2005 by Kevin Bold
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First Sentence:
What is not supposed to be my concern! Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
involuntary egoist, pliable girl, humane liberalism, sacred dread, egoistic love, higher essence, highest essence, supreme essence, man renounces Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bruno Bauer, Edgar Bauer, Middle Ages, Allgemeine Literaturzeitung, The Essence of Christianity, Arnold Ruge, Die Judenfrage, Ludwig Feuerbach, Politische Vorlesungen, August Becker, Evil One, Lord God, Pierre Joseph Proudhon New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
What is not supposed to be my concern! Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
involuntary egoist, pliable girl, humane liberalism, sacred dread, egoistic love, higher essence, highest essence, supreme essence, man renounces Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bruno Bauer, Edgar Bauer, Middle Ages, Allgemeine Literaturzeitung, The Essence of Christianity, Arnold Ruge, Die Judenfrage, Ludwig Feuerbach, Politische Vorlesungen, August Becker, Evil One, Lord God, Pierre Joseph Proudhon New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
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- The Essence of Christianity (Great Books in Philosophy) by Ludwig Feuerbach on 11 pages
- Philosophy of Right (Dover Philosophical Classics) by Georg W. F. Hegel on 7 pages
- Faust (Crofts Classics) (Pt. 1) by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe on 4 pages
- Faust, Part One (Penguin Classics) by Goethe on 4 pages
- Goethe's Faust: Part 1: A New American Version (Pt. 1) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on 4 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- The Age of German Idealism: Routledge History of Philosophy Volume VI by Kathleen M. Higgins on page 300, and page 327
- The Age of German Idealism: Routledge History of Philosophy Volume 6 by Robert C. Solomon on page 300, and page 327
- The Nature of Capital: Marx after Foucault (Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought) by Richard Marsden on page 72, and Back Matter
- Arnold: 'Culture and Anarchy' and Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Matthew Arnold in Back Matter
- Hobbes: On the Citizen (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Thomas Hobbes in Back Matter
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