The radicalism of departure : a reassessment of Max Stirner's Hegelianism

To date, the philosophy of Max Stirner (1806-1856) has not attracted much academic attention. An early critic of Karl Marx and precursor of existentialist thought, he is nevertheless remembered as a radical Young Hegelian engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to move ‘beyond Hegel’. Arguing that this image of Stirner is based on a faulty interpretation of his relationship to Hegelian philosophy, this book proposes an entirely new reading of his philosophical magnum opus Der Einzige und sein Eigentum. In this work, traditional philosophy, epitomized by Hegel, is reduced to the property of the unique or single individual. This move must not only be seen a refusal to keep traditional philosophy alive by criticising it, but also entails an ‘existentialist’ inversion of the traditional relation between thinker and idea. This exciting new interpretation, which is demonstrated here by a detailed analysis of Der Einzige und sein Eigentum, clears the way for a philosophical rehabilitation of Stirner’s ideas. Table of Contents Note on the Text Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One 1. Introduction 2. Die Freien 3. Stirner’s philosophical allegiance in the Smaller Writings Chapter Two 1. The language of Der Einzige 2. The logic of (dis)continuation 3. Conclusion Chapter Three 1. The nature of Stirner’s relation to Hegel 2. Hegel’s analysis of “die Reihe der Lebensalter” 3. Stirner’s discussion of Ein Menschenleben 4. Interpretation 5. Conclusion Chapter Four 1. Hegel’s account of world history 2. Stirner’s historical reflections 3. Conclusion Chapter Five 1. Young Hegelian historiography 2. Stirner’s critique of Die 3. Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography