Thought of Max STIRNER

In today's class we are going to study the thought of Max Stirner, (Johann Kaspar Schmidt- 1806-1856- ), one of the least known philosophers of the 19th century. However, today he is considered one of the promoters of the anarchism of him with his work The only one and the property of him (1844-1845), in which he captures all his thoughts and in which he tells us about the individualistic anarchism and the unique self. According to which, the individual must be a be supreme and freed from the impositions of religion (God) and the State.

If you want to know more about Max Stirner, in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we summarize the most important points of his thought. Let's start!

Index

1. Max Stirner: Biography and Works
2. The individual according to Max Stirner
3. The State and society according to Max Stirner
4. Religion and politics according to Max Stirner

Johann Kaspar Schmidt was born in 1806 in Bayreuth (Bavaria, Germany), within a

After his university period, Stirner began to join left-wing political groups and frequented philosophical gatherings, such as the group The Free Ones or the Young Hegelian Club (1837-1842)”. Where he befriended Engels or Bruno Bauer.

It was in the 1940s that he published his most important works and essays, such as:

• The only one and the property of him, 1845: Work where we find the basis of all his thought and that was prohibited.
• History of the reaction, 1856 (unfinished): In which he talks about the German Revolution of 1848 (in which he was not a participant)

The last years of his life were marked by his time in prison for economic debts (in 1853 and 1854) and in June 1956 he died practically destitute. However, today he is considered the father of the selfish or individual anarchism. Thesis that would later influence authors such as Friederech Nietzsche or William Godwin.

In the first place, to know the thought of Max Stirner we are going to study his concept of individual, which is the basis of your thinking (influenced by Hegel and Feuerbach). In this way, our protagonist tells us about the i only: An individual who does not fit into an abstract category, which is real and absolute. In addition, it is characterized by:

1. The unique self is the foundation of all reflection and reality itself. Therefore, we are told of an individual who is the center of everything and who is independent of all external submission: Ideas, society, humanity, the State or religion.
2. The unique self is not abstract but is a real entity, since it is not subject to any category (not even the biological one). If we were to introduce the individual into a category, we would make him a dependent part of a whole and he would lose his uniqueness.
3. The most valuable thing about the individual is his will to self-affirm his self or uniqueness, leaving aside the collective mass, that is, the individual he must not be a slave to society.
4. Reality exists as long as the individual lives, he perceives and relates. Nothing exists without him.
5. The man is the foundation of all relationships from its absolute uniqueness (“the relationships of the world are my relationships, not the relationships of others”), therefore, the unrelatedness is found in the lack of uniqueness.
6. The individual must be free to act as he wishes outside the institutions and of religion. He must seek self-freedom from him.
7. His limit is get what he wants.
8. The individual is the source and origin of all morality and law: He must reject the institutions (State, law or religion that influence us and that are our yoke),
9. The individual must not look to the past and think about the future: We should not justify our behavior in acts of the past.
10. The whole world is his property.

The second key concept in Max Stirner's thought is that of state and society. Thus, for our protagonist, State and society are modern transformations or metamorphoses of the old religions that sought subdue the unique self.

In this way, following Stirner's thesis, society is extremely controlled by the state (a forced association for the individual) through authoritarian institutions that dominate us from childhood with the aim of creating a mass of individuals without uniqueness. Therefore, all the intuitions that are part of the State are like ghosts that have a coercive power about being and that are weaving a spider web to imprison the individual, stripping him of his freedom.

Likewise, Stirner affirms that society should be a “Union of the egoists. Based on a voluntary association-relationship, in reciprocity, in continuous renewal and the will of individuals (support from all parties).

Image: Culturalizing

Finally, within the thought of Max Stirner we also have to study his concept ofpolitics and religion. Thus, for Stirner both are based on empty concepts and their objectives are ccontrol the individual, curtail his freedom, do it slave having authority over him, using him for his selfish cause, and reify your mind.

In this sense, all political doctrines (conservative, liberal or socialist) are different expressions of the same trend (different versions of the same idea) and his goal is to create a collective mass to deny the unique self.

In short, for our protagonist, we must free ourselves from all sovereignty, divine or political, to create a system anticlerical (the sacred does not exist, it is a creation of the individual) and free, where the individual is not dominated.

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Stirner, M. (1976) The only one and his property. Pablos Publisher: Mexico.