Max Stirner Flashcards
(24 cards)
What is Egoism?
The theory that one’s self is, or should be, the motivation and the goal of one’s own action.
Define Autonomy.
The ability to make your own decisions about what to do rather than being influenced by someone else or told what to do.
What does Insurrection mean?
An act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.
What was Max Stirner’s original name?
Johann Kaspar Schmidt.
In which year was Max Stirner born?
1806.
At which university did Stirner attend lectures by Hegel?
The University of Berlin.
What group did Stirner join that included Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels?
The ‘Young Hegelians’.
What is the title of Stirner’s first major work?
The Ego and Its Own (or The Unique and their Property).
Why did Stirner resign from his teaching position?
In anticipation of the controversy his book would cause.
What were the three stages of life according to Stirner?
- The realistic stage
- The idealistic stage
- Egoism
What is the realistic stage characterized by?
Children are restricted by external forces.
What does Stirner mean by ‘spooks’?
Fixed ideas such as religion, social norms, and political ideologies that enslave individuals.
What is the final stage of life in Stirner’s theory?
Egoism, where the ego’s pursuit of self-interest overcomes physical and social constraints.
According to Stirner, what must be placed above all else?
The ‘ego’.
What does Stirner criticize in the modern world?
The failure to escape from religious thinking and ideological forces.
Fill in the blank: For Stirner, anything that is outside of the self, be it the state, religion, society, or ideologies, are all checks on personal _______.
autonomy.
True or False: Stirner believes there can be compromise between egoism and the state.
False.
What does Stirner say about the state’s purpose?
To tame, limit, subordinate the individual.
According to Stirner, who has a legitimate claim to sovereignty?
Only the individual ego.
What does Stirner dismiss as ‘spooks’ and ‘ghosts’?
Morality, religion, and ideology.
What does Stirner assert about property and possession?
They coincide; property belongs to whoever knows how to take and defend it.
Fill in the blank: ‘Whoever knows how to take and to defend the thing, to him it belongs till it is again taken from him, as _______ belongs to him who takes it.’
liberty.
What does Stirner say about rights and might?
It is not a right lying outside my might that legitimizes me, but solely my might.
What does Stirner encourage regarding others’ property?
To look upon it always as my property, in which I need to ‘respect’ nothing.
