Der Einzige und sein Eigentum Add a review

The Ego and Its Own (German: Der Einzige und sein Eigentum), also known as The Unique and Its Property is an 1844 work by German philosopher Max Stirner. It presents a post-Hegelian critique of Christianity and traditional morality on one hand; and on the other, humanism, utilitarianism, liberalism, and much of the then-burgeoning socialist movement, advocating instead an amoral (although importantly not inherently immoral or antisocial) egoism. It is considered a major influence on the development of anarchism, existentialism, nihilism, and postmodernism.

In 2010, John F. Welsh coined the term dialectical egoism for the thoughts of Stirner expressed in this work, in order to emphasize the distinction from the negative and pejorative connotations from the common everyday use of egoism in the sense of egotism.

The discussion which follows is based on the English translation by Steven T. Byington, first published in 1907. A more recent translation by Apio Ludd aka Wolfi Landstreicher was published by Underworld Amusements in 2017 under the title The Unique and Its Property, the translator noting that Stirner had not used the word ego.