Max Stirner: The ego and his own

**The Ego and Its Own** (German: *Der Einzige und sein Eigentum*; meaningfully translated as **The Individual and his Property**, literally as **The Unique and His Property**) is an 1844 work by German philosopher *Max Stirner*. It presents a radically nominalist and individualist critique of Christianity, nationalism, 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.