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Title: Stirner: The Ego and its Own by Max Stirner, David Leopold ISBN: 0-521-45647-9 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 06 April, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting if abrasive food for thought!
Comment: "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!
Rating: 5
Summary: -- "The Fourth Dimension of Ethics" --
Comment: "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.
Rating: 3
Summary: Those rantings makes good eatin'
Comment: I'll dispense with the summary and just say that the book was interesting as a historical footnote. I certainly find it to be an awe inspiring book in its ability to inspire psuedo-anarchist rantings. Between this and Kropotkin's Conquest of Bread few books seem to have inspired so many middle-aged capitalists to forego their mid-life crisis Corvettes and dive into the selfishness of a fascism covered in the guise of anti-establishment philosophy.
Pesonally, I read it as historical precedent for the attack on systematic philosophies and a precursor to the nebulous nihilism of our day. As a left wing socialist 'kook', I found it to cast an interesting light on the internal war between our current passive, laissez faire nihilism and our more ideological desire to act (that was at least why I read it).
As any 'anti-whatever' book, it is more interesting to read then anyone who painstakingly creates a thoughtful thesis. Hegel may have been a genius but it certainly is less amusing to read then this or Nietzsche- that may be why we have so many undeveloped minds becoming anarchists or whatever, it's easy to read.
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Title: Proudhon: What is Property? by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Donald R. Kelley, Bonnie G. Smith ISBN: 0521405564 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 25 February, 1994 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord, Donald Nicholson-Smith ISBN: 0942299795 Publisher: Zone Books Pub. Date: 23 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Immediatism by Hakim Bey, Hakim, Freddie Baer ISBN: 1873176422 Publisher: AK Pr Distribution Pub. Date: February, 1995 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: God and the State by Michael Bakunin ISBN: 048622483X Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1970 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: The Tears of Eros by Georges Bataille, Peter Connor ISBN: 0872862224 Publisher: City Lights Books Pub. Date: December, 1989 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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