Max Stirner Biography

Johann Kaspar Schmidt, popularly as Max Stirner, was a German philosopher and author who is remembered for his controversial book 'The Ego and Its Own'. He is often considered the father of concepts like nihilism, existentialism, individualist anarchism, postmodernism, and psychoanalytic theory. He was a member of an intellectual group 'Die Freien', where he was introduced to several philosophers and thinkers of the century. In his book, he challenged the expectations of the contemporary civilization. He criticized concepts like religion, state, and oppressive institutions that governed the lives of people. He advocated individual autonomy and the idea of "egoism." His book made a significant impact on several readers and thinkers like Rudolf Steiner, Gustav Landauer, Carl Schmitt, and Jürgen Habermas. It had an immediate and damaging impact on the left-Hegelian movement and was essential in the intellectual development of Karl Marx. It immensely influenced the political tradition of individualist anarchism. The ideas of post-left anarchy and unwavering faith in individualism were derived from Stirner's thoughts. He is often regarded as a predecessor to Nietzsche.