The Ego and Its Own

by Max Stirner

Book Overview

The Ego and Its Own is an 1844 work by German philosopher Max Stirner. It presents a radically nominalist and individualist critique of, on the one hand, Christianity, nationalism and traditional morality, and on the other, humanism, utilitarianism, liberalism and much of the then-burgeoning socialist movement, advocating instead an amoral (although importantly not inherently immoral or antisocial) egoism.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1978385005
• ISBN13: 9781978385009
• Release Date: October 2017
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The Ego and Its Own

Very illuminating and thought provoking book. Identifies the perils of dogmatic, inflexible abstractions and how they box in the individual. While the content within is top notch the format of the book, at least my copy, leaves a little to be desired. The font is exceptionally small and there is a lack of page numbers which is a pain if you plan on trying to use this for reference material or simply being able to find and reread a section you particularly enjoyed. As mentioned before the material within is stellar and is worthy of a five star rating.

tossing away spooks

this is the most liberating book ever written, it frees the individual from such spooks as family, church, state, society, god. He was correct to note that feuerbach and the marxists were establishing their own religion, and this criticism applies to many of the secular religions of our day. He also destroys such chimeras as the 'social contract' and other nonsensical obligations.

Marx, Nietzsche, and Rand on a Drunken Diatribe

Max Stirner was ahead of the game, to say the least. was published when Nietzsche was a mere toddler and prior to Marx's reign as political guru. Stirner beat both philosophical sages to the gun at what would later come to be known as Marxism and Christian Nihilism. Then why is the name "Stirner" hardly heard in the realm of philosophy? In many cases Stirner is abrasive and objectively unsympathetic to his audience (moreso than Rand ever thought of being). Stirner wasn't nearly as lucid as Nietzsche, though his themes were conducive to the latter's thought. As far as Marx is concerned, Stirner dictated what would later become Marxism and went 12 steps further and renounced it. Stirner is a staunch advocator of liberal anarchism, renouncing property via individualism a la Rand. Though it is marketed as a political tract, the work transcends the boundaries of mere politics and becomes a universal thesis in the vein of Machiavelli's This is a work of vast stature, covering the realms of theology, sociology, psychology, politics, and aesthetics. A must read for all thinkers.

-- "The Fourth Dimension of Ethics" --

"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.

Impassioned and inspiring.

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.

Very invigorating and thought-provoking.

This is a book that has been ignored undeservedly for a long time. "The most revolutionary book ever written" powerfully spurns the use of anything above the self as a means of defining the self. Stirner observes that the egoists -- the sultans, kings, and potentates -- live for their own ends off man's devotion to "ghosts" embodied in not only religion but also humanism. Stirner refuses to worship external idols and unabashedly asserts himself as the reference point for his life.At times the book becomes long and taxing, but patience definitely pays off. Whether the reader agrees with the message or not, this work stimulates and challenges.