Max Stirner

Johann Caspar Schmidt (25 October 1806 – 26 June 1856), known by the pen name Max Stirner (German: [ˈʃtɪʁnɐ]), was a German philosopher, dealing mainly with the Hegelian notion of social alienation and self-consciousness. Stirner is often seen as one of the forerunners of nihilism, existentialism, psychoanalytic theory, postmodernism, individualist anarchism, and egoism.

Born in 1806 in Bayreuth, Bavaria, Stirner's life and work are known largely through a biography written by John Henry Mackay. Following the death of his father, he was raised in West Prussia after his mother's remarriage. Stirner studied at the University of Berlin, where he attended Hegel's lectures. He then moved into teaching and became involved with the Young Hegelians in Berlin. Although he struggled to secure a permanent academic post, Stirner became a fixture in intellectual circles and wrote his most famous work, The Ego and Its Own (1844), while supporting himself as a teacher.

Stirner married twice, first to Agnes Burtz, who died in 1838, and later to Marie Dähnhardt. He attempted and failed at business before turning to translation and writing. Stirner died in Berlin in 1856, having spent his later years in relative obscurity, despite the enduring influence of his radical individualist philosophy.