Max Stirner

The Ego and Its Own Max Stirner

The Ego and Its Own (German: Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum; also translated as Me and My Own, or more accurately as The Individual and His Property) is an 1884 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. It is considered a major influence on the development of anarchism, existentialism, nihilism and postmodernism.