La philosophie politique de Max Stirner

Abstract

Max Stirner (1806-1856) remains an author who is difficult to classify. His major work, The Ego and its own, was published in 1845, a time when social utopias that wanted to provide answers to the harmful effects of industrial revolution on human existence were flourishing. This article will examine Stirner’s paradoxes in relation to utopia, since he appears to be both anti-utopian and utopian. Indeed, while criticising utopia as a false hope in times of crisis, he himself proposes a new model of society: “the union of egoists” (one also wonders, of course, whether individual happiness at any price can be reconciled with collective well-being?) Through an analysis of the Stirnerian understanding of egoism, sometimes called “ethical”, the endeavor of this article is to restore the importance of the man as well as of an approach whose impact and influence were consequent on the political philosophy of the time and even on the long term.

Keywords

• Stirner
• 19th century
• political philosophy
• Germany
• social utopias