47 lines
2.4 KiB
Plaintext
47 lines
2.4 KiB
Plaintext
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New audio recording of individualist classic --
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Max Stirner, whose radical defense of liberty provoked a 300-page
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outburst from Karl Marx
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THE EGO AND HIS OWN: The Case of the Individual Against Authority
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by Max Stirner, translated by Steven Byington, read by Jeff Riggenbach,
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introduction by James S. Martin (reviewed by Jim Powell)
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Few Americans seem to know much about the great German individualist
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Johann Caspar Schmidt (1806-1856), who wrote under the pseudonym Max
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Stirner, in part because his work is almost impossible to find here.
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Stirner taught history, wrote essays about education, translated works
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by Adam Smith and J.B. Say into German and produced this radical case
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for individualism.
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First published in 1845, _The Ego and His Own_ isn't elegantly written
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like John Stuart Mill's famous _On Liberty_, but Stirner based his case
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on bedrock principle. Whereas Mill urged that individuality should be
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tolerated because of potential usefulness -- you never know who will
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contribute to society -- Stirner insisted that individuals have rights
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because they are human beings, regardless what they might contribute.
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He attacked any doctrine which subordinates individuals to a powerful
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authority.
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"Every State is a despotism, be the despot one or many," he declared.
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Stirner's opponents dismissed his views as selfishness, but he observed
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that individualism is hated because it makes individuals sovereign and
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seeks strict limits on government power: "The own will of Me is the
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State's destroyer; it is therefore branded by the State as 'self will.'"
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Stirner displayed awesome insight when he attacked communism, then in its
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infancy: "loudly as it always attacks the 'State', what it intends is
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itself again a State ... a sovereign power over me."
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Well, Karl Marx recognized that individualism, especially an
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uncompromising free spirit like Stirner, was an arch-enemy of his frenzied
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collectivism. Within a year after _The Ego and His Own_ appeared, Marx
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wrote _The German Ideology_, 300 pages of vicious bombast aimed mainly at
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Stirner. It's hard to imagine a more impressive compliment for a friend of
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freedom.
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Stirner's master work is still hard to find, but Laissez Faire Books
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arranged for this thoughtful reading of the complete text by noted
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national broadcaster Jeff Riggenbach. He displays a firm, pleasing command
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of Stirner's provocative ideas. In a vinyl binder.
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LI6170 (10 audiotapes, 14.5 hours) $49.95
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