# Egoism [Egoismus]

By [*u/Lacroix\_Fan*](https://www.reddit.com/user/Lacroix_Fan/)

*(See the FAQ entry:* [*What is Egoism?*](https://www.reddit.com/r/fullegoism/comments/1nxs46w/what_is_egoism/)*)*

**Common Translations:** [Egoism](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/egoism) (Steven Byington/David Leopold; Wolfi Landstreicher).

**Stirner’s Usage:** Egoism \[[Egoismus](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Egoismus)\] denotes one’s inability to act selflessly—even, e.g., one’s altruistic devotion to a [**cause**](https://www.reddit.com/r/fullegoism/comments/1r77yjz/cause_thing_concern_affair_sache/) ultimately arising in oneself, because one has nothing but oneself to arise causes from—and the *accidental* and *willful* tendency within this inability to appropriate, towards one’s ends, all things within one’s **power**: for instance, to place one’s coffee mug in a spot one finds more pleasing, or to dispense with the belief that one ought not to do all things for oneself. Egoism is not a higher state to be achieved, \[1\] nor is it “human nature”, nor is it a canny “self-interest”; \[2\] it is simply a natural power, one’s relationship with their world. Stirner utilizes this natural power to willfully live without considering any cause greater than his **own**, without any misconception that he might ever be anything but egoistic. Confusingly, this way of life too is called egoism, and whether the former or latter definition is being referred to must be gleaned from context.

**Key Excerpts:**

* “Sacred things exist only for the egoist who doesn’t recognize himself, the involuntary egoist, for the one who is always out for his own, and yet does not consider himself the highest essence, \[…\] but however much he shakes and chastises himself, in the end he does everything for his own sake, and the disreputable egoism never gives way in him. This is why I call him the involuntary egoist.” ([The Possessed ](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#toc15:~:text=Sacred%20things%20exist,the%20involuntary%20egoist.)[¶](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#:~:text=We%20are%20indeed%20supposed%20to%20have%20spirit%2C%20but%20spirit%20is%20not%20supposed%20to%20have%20us.)[12](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#toc15:~:text=Sacred%20things%20exist,the%20involuntary%20egoist.))
* “\[T\]he egoist, indeed, never strives for any thing for the thing’s sake: the thing must serve him. It is egoistic to ascribe no value of its own, no ‘absolute’ value to a thing, but rather to seek its value in me.” ([Ownness ¶38:3–4](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#fn_back183:~:text=the%20egoist%2C%20indeed%2C%20never%20strives%20for%20any%20thing%20for%20the%20thing%E2%80%99s%20sake%3A%20the%20thing%20must%20serve%20him.%20It%20is%20egoistic%20to%20ascribe%20no%20value%20of%20its%20own%2C%20no%20%E2%80%9Cabsolute%E2%80%9D%20value%20to%20a%20thing%2C%20but%20rather%20to%20seek%20its%20value%20in%20me.))
* “Morality is not compatible with egoism, because it doesn’t accept *me*, but only the humanity in me.” ([The Owner ¶24:5](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#toc15:~:text=Morality%20is%20not%20compatible%20with%20egoism%2C%20because%20it%20doesn%E2%80%99t%20accept%20me%2C%20but%20only%20the%20humanity%20in%20me.))

**Feuerbachian Context & Distinctions:** Stirner inherits this term from Feuerbach, who put forward a universal (“Humanism”), yet excluded egoism from it. \[3\] Stirner rhetorically utilizes this term to show that the full brunt of a person is always excluded from higher ideals, such as Humanity, Morality, and Individualism. To Stirner, one may indeed be human, moral, and an individual, but there is much more to oneself than any of these universals. \[4\]

In fact, Stirner—inspired by animal psychologist Peter Scheitlin’s work, ‘*Complete Science of The Animal Soul*’ (1840)—took inhuman animals and children as prime examples of egoists, merely by dint of their cognitive inabilities to hold parts of their own worlds above themselves as **sacred**. 

**Concrete Example:** A child, a priest, and Stirner walk into a bar. The child will egoistically see the other two’s argument as hers to ignore, and instead delight herself toying with emptied bottles. The priest will—even though his sacred devotion be self-sacrificing—egoistically strive to satisfy his pride by proving this devotion, seeing Stirner’s beliefs as his own to influence. Stirner is the only one in this group who knows he is behaving egoistically, calls himself such, and will either argue with the priest, join the child’s game, or abandon both for greener pastures, only as he sees fit.

**\[1\]** [The Hierarchy (iii) ¶26](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#:~:text=How%20people%20have,am%20not%20it.), [My Self-Enjoyment (i) ¶31](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#:~:text=Everything%20is%20my%20own%2C%20so%20I%20take%20back%20to%20me%20what%20tries%20to%20escape%20me%2C%20but%20above%20all%20I%20always%20take%20myself%20back%20when%20I%20have%20slipped%20away%20from%20myself%20into%20any%20servitude.%20But%20this%20is%20not%20my%20calling%2C%20but%20my%20natural%20act.). 

**\[2\]** [My Intercourse (x) ¶5:7–11](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#:~:text=What%20then%20does%20on,the%20God%2Dfearing%20person.). See the FAQ entry, [*What does Stirner mean by Interest?*](https://www.reddit.com/r/fullegoism/comments/1l8qug6/what_does_stirner_mean_by_interest/)

**\[3\]** [My Self-Enjoyment (iii) ¶8:6–9](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#:~:text=What%20religion%20calls,an%20old%20cloak.).

**\[4\]** [The Unique ¶15, ¶16:1–3](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-unique-and-its-property#:~:text=They%20say%20of,of%20this%20awareness.).

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