Individuality and the social organism: The controversy between Max Stirner and Karl Marx

by Philip Breed Dematteis

Genres: Philosophy

181 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beware: this book is not an easy read, and some familiarity with philosophical terms is probably useful. However, given that HegeIianism and its further movements (Marxism and “Stirnerism”) are fairly abstract and ambiguous by themselves, I think this is a very accessible book.
My first book on Max Stirner was “All things are nothing to me: The unique philosophy of Max Stirner” by Jacob Blumenfeld, which I found to be to be too confusing.

The book itself starts off with an introduction to Hegelianism, indicating the possible sources leading to different interpretations.

Next it covers the most important ideas of Max Stirner, with excerpts from his Magnus Opus “The Ego and His own”, originally “Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum”.

Next, but most importantly, it puts these ideas in contrast with those of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, sourcing both their original works on communism and the critiques on Stirner.
Given the time and and effort they put into writing “The German Ideology” - a direct attack on Stirner - it is obvious that they saw him as a threat.

Finally (for me the most interesting part) it puts these ideologies in light of major events following in the 20th century:
- How much influence did Marx really put on people and countries globally (most significant example: establishment of the USSR)?
Answer: a lot.
- How much influence did Stirner put on people?
Answer: It’s probably negligible. Stirner was and still is too misunderstood and unpopular. People claim he was a nihilist, anarchist, fascist (it’s told he played in important role in shaping Hitler’s idea’s) etc. Recent books and documents show bit by bit what he truly stood for. However, I’m afraid we will never know his real influence.

There are many more in-depth books On Marx and Stirner. However, since I was only interested in an overview of their philosophies and influences, this will suffice for me (for now).

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally a doctoral dissertation written in 1972, this new edition has great cover art and a new preface by the author. The chapters on the philosophies of Hegel, Stirner and Marx are clear and well done. I especially appreciated the author's explanation of the structure and method of Stirner's book The Ego and It's Own.

It would have been nice to see more original argumentation throughout the book. Too often the author uses long quotations to buttress his points instead of offering his own insights and arguments.

The most unfortunate thing about this edition are all of the typographical and formatting errors. Very distracting.

[thecoomer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This "book" was hilariously bad. I couldn't stop laughing just from the preface, then getting into the actual thing itself had me laughing. I cant believe someone so stupid could write all of this shit! its so shitty I'd be afraid to scrap it for toilet paper. this is a good book for if you and your friends who actually read Stirner, Marx, or just philosophy in general need to laugh or cringe at something. That anyone reads this and thinks it good, or even difficult they must be as below-mid-witted as the author. no wonder it wasn't printed until now, there's no way this garbage could even pass peer review.