All Things are Nothing to Me

Jacob Blumenfeld

ISBN 10: 1780996632 / ISBN 13: 9781780996639

Published by Collective Ink, GB, 2018

About this Item

Max Stirner's The Unique and Its Property (1844) is the first ruthless critique of modern society. In All Things are Nothing to Me, Jacob Blumenfeld reconstructs the unique philosophy of Max Stirner (1806-1856), a figure that strongly influenced-for better or worse-Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Emma Goldman as well as numerous anarchists, feminists, surrealists, illegalists, existentialists, fascists, libertarians, dadaists, situationists, insurrectionists and nihilists of the last two centuries. Misunderstood, dismissed, and defamed, Stirner's work is considered by some to be the worst book ever written. It combines the worst elements of philosophy, politics, history, psychology, and morality, and ties it all together with simple tautologies, fancy rhetoric, and militant declarations. That is the glory of Max Stirner's unique footprint in the history of philosophy. Jacob Blumenfeld wanted to exhume this dead tome along with its dead philosopher, but discovered instead that, rather than deceased, their spirits are alive and quite well, floating in our presence. All Things are Nothing to Me is a forensic investigation into how Stirner has stayed alive throughout time.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781780996639

Bibliographic Details

• Title: All Things are Nothing to Me
• Publisher: Collective Ink, GB
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1780996632
• ISBN 13: 9781780996639
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Max Stirner’s The Unique and Its Property (1844) is the first ruthless critique of modern society. In All Things are Nothing to Me, Jacob Blumenfeld reconstructs the unique philosophy of Max Stirner (1806–1856), a figure that strongly influenced—for better or worse—Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Emma Goldman as well as numerous anarchists, feminists, surrealists, illegalists, existentialists, fascists, libertarians, dadaists, situationists, insurrectionists and nihilists of the last two centuries. Misunderstood, dismissed, and defamed, Stirner’s work is considered by some to be the worst book ever written. It combines the worst elements of philosophy, politics, history, psychology, and morality, and ties it all together with simple tautologies, fancy rhetoric, and militant declarations. That is the glory of Max Stirner’s unique footprint in the history of philosophy. Jacob Blumenfeld wanted to exhume this dead tome along with its dead philosopher, but discovered instead that, rather than deceased, their spirits are alive and quite well, floating in our presence. All Things are Nothing to Me is a forensic investigation into how Stirner has stayed alive throughout time.

About the Author

Jacob Blumenfeld is a writer, translator, and philosopher based in Berlin. His popular writings have appeared in the New York Times, Viewpoint Magazine, and the Brooklyn Rail. His academic writings have appeared in the Hegel Bulletin, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, the Marx & Philosophy Review of Books and more. He edited and contributed to The Anarchist Turn (2013, Pluto Press), and recently co-translated Communism for Kids (2017, MIT Press). In 2108, he earned his PhD in philosophy from the New School for Social Research with a dissertation on the concept of property. He currently teaches at the Freie Universität in Berlin.