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Egoism and Class Consciousness, or: Why Marx and Engels Wrote So Much About Stirner

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2022

Tom Whyman
Tom Whyman*
Affiliation:
Durham University, UK tomwhyman@googlemail.com
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Abstract

Interest in The German Ideology has largely focused on the ‘chapter’ on Feuerbach—invariably the focus of the various abridgements in which the work is usually read. But this does not reflect the weighting of the text itself, which is dominated by Marx and Engels's critique of the radical egoist philosopher Max Stirner. Which begs the question: just why did they spend so much time and effort writing about Stirner? In this paper, I will provide an answer—which comes down to three related points. The first concerns the critique of reason; the second, egoistic self-interest. On both of these two points, Stirner makes a novel contribution—contributions which Marx and Engels feel clear affinities with. However, Stirner can ultimately be seen to get these two points, as it were, the wrong way around. This then leads to the third point: Stirner's misunderstanding of the nature of Communism. To clarify the nature of Communism, then, Marx and Engels were compelled to turn Stirner on his head.

Type
Research Article
Information
Hegel Bulletin , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , December 2023 , pp. 422 - 445
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Hegel Society of Great Britain

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