Max Stirner's relevance to contemporary philosophy: a critical analysis

dc.check.date10000-01-01
dc.check.embargoformatE-thesis on CORA onlyen
dc.check.entireThesisEntire Thesis Restricted
dc.check.infoIndefiniteen
dc.check.opt-outYesen
dc.check.reasonThis thesis is due for publication or the author is actively seeking to publish this materialen
dc.contributor.advisorMoeller, Hans-Georgen
dc.contributor.authorCrownover, Seth
dc.date.accessioned2014-01-13T17:51:25Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.date.submitted2013
dc.description.abstractThe aim of this dissertation is to revive the 19th-century thinker Max Stirner’s thought through a critical reexamination of his mistaken legacy as a ‘political’ thinker. The reading of Stirner that I present is one of an ontological thinker, spurred on as much—if not more—by the contents of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit as it is the radical roots that Hegel unintentionally planted. In the first chapter, the role of language in Stirner’s thought is examined, and the problems to which his conception of language seem to give rise are addressed. The second chapter looks at Stirner’s purportedly ‘anarchistic’ politics and finds the ‘anarchist’ reading of Stirner misguided. Rather than being a ‘political’ anarchist, it is argued that we ought to understand Stirner as advocating a sort of ‘ontological’ anarchism in which the very existence of authority is questioned. In the third chapter, I look at the political ramifications of Stirner’s ontology as well as the critique of liberalism contained within it, and argue that the politics implicit in his philosophy shares more in common with the tradition of political realism than it does anarchism. The fourth chapter is dedicated to an examination of Stirner’s anti-humanism, which is concluded to be much different than the ‘anti-humanisms’ associated with other, more famous thinkers, such as Foucault and Heidegger. In the fifth and final chapter, I provide an answer to the question(s) of how, if, and to what extent Friedrich Nietzsche was influenced by Stirner. It is concluded that the complete lack of evidence that Nietzsche ever read Stirner is proof enough to dismiss accusations of plagiarism on Nietzsche’s part, thus emphasizing the originality and singularity of both thinkers.en
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Version
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationCrownover, S. 2013. Max Stirner's relevance to contemporary philosophy: a critical analysis. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/1303
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.rights© 2013, Seth Crownoveren
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/en
dc.subjectMax Stirneren
dc.subjectGerman idealismen
dc.subjectHumanismen
dc.subjectOntological anarchismen
dc.subjectOntologyen
dc.subject.lcshAnarchismen
dc.subject.lcshStirner, Max, 1806-1856en
dc.thesis.opt-outtrue*
dc.titleMax Stirner's relevance to contemporary philosophy: a critical analysisen
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD (Arts)en
Files
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
5.62 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Decision to Withhold Autumn 2013 Seth Crownover.pdf
Size:
27.76 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Opt-out