The union of egoists against the domination of the Sacred: an interpretation of the notion of community in Max Stirner

Abstract

This work aims to propose a reading of the notion of community in a Stirnerian key. The objective will not only be to carry out an exegesis of the primary sources, but to reconceptualize this central notion for contemporary political philosophy in the light of Max Stirner’s theory. In this sense, the hermeneutical key of the text is to dispute the meaning of the word “community” dispute with mainstream political theory. For this, I will trace and analyze Sitirner’s references to what he calls “the union of egoists” (Verein von Egoisten) in his writings. Then, using the vocabulary of contemporary political philosophy, I will try to outline the main characteristics of this idea of association. Finally, I will provide some arguments in favor of the hypothesis that will guide this writting, namely: the critique of the Sacred in Stirner’s theory constitutes a critique of domination. The domination of the Sacred can only be overcome through egoism. Far from this being a call to isolation or segregation, alliances between egoistics multiply the means of action of each one, favoring the liberation of all of them. Thus, the union of egoists not only harbors a new germ of community political praxis, but the individual/community binomial is reconfigured, overcoming the traditional contrast between the atomic individual of liberalism and traditional communitarianism. Just as the notion of individualism acquires a new meaning in Stirner, so do the links that constitute the community.