What did Max Stirner believe?

Stirner believed that there was no objective social reality independent of the individual; social classes, the state, the masses, and humanity are abstractions and therefore need not be considered seriously. He wrote of a finite, empirical ego, which he saw as the motive force of every human action.

What is Max Stirner’s opinion on the nature of people?

For Stirner, the essential core of human nature is the self-interested ego so each person should be able to express their individuality free from all constraints. Consequently, the self-interested and rational individual should be able to use anything or anyone they want to achieve their own purposes.

What is egoism Max Stirner?

Stirner’s philosophy is usually called “egoism”. He says that the egoist rejects pursuit of devotion to “a great idea, a good cause, a doctrine, a system, a lofty calling”, saying that the egoist has no political calling, but rather “lives themselves out” without regard to “how well or ill humanity may fare thereby”.

Is Max Stirner right wing?

So it makes sense that in terms of affinity (and that is all these political orientations really are — affinities) Stirner was on the left.

What does stirner mean by spooks?

Stirner does use the word “spooks” or “ghosts” (depending on translation) to describe what is more typically described as “fixed ideas.” Pretty much any idea can be turned into a “spook”, an idea that haunts or possesses you and ostensibly motivates your actions above all else.

Was stirner a nihilist?

nihilistic. Stirner belonged to movements which Marx rejected as ‘intel- lectual nihilists’. Following the nihilist logic to its ultimate implic- ations, he denied God and Christian values, the State’s authority, and all traditional morality. But he went still further, and denied all ethical obligations.

What is a political spook?

Slang for someone involved in espionage. CIA members, in slang.

Is stirner an anarchist?

Stirner’s philosophy was important in the development of modern anarchist thought, particularly individualist anarchism and egoist anarchism. Although Stirner is usually associated with individualist anarchism, he was influential to many social anarchists such as anarcha-feminists Emma Goldman and Federica Montseny.

What is a spook stirner?

Was Max Stirner a communist?

Although Stirner was opposed to communism for the same reasons he opposed capitalism, humanism, liberalism, property rights and nationalism, seeing them as forms of authority over the individual and as purveyors of ideologies he could not reconcile himself with, he has influenced many anarcho-communists and post-left …