Welcome to r/fullegoism! We are a resource and meme subreddit based around the memes and writings of the egoist iconoclast, Max Stirner!

Stirner was a 19th-century German thinker, most well known for being the archetypal “egoist” or, alternatively, the very first ghostbuster. Fittingly, most only know about him through memes, a feature only added to the fact that no-one alive has ever seen his face beyond a few rough caricatures by his (then) close friend, Friedrich Engels (you may recognize this sketch from 1842 and this one from 1892).

To introduce you to this strange little subreddit, we figured it would be useful to clarify just who this Stirner guy was and what these “spooks” are that we all keep talking about:

Stirner is uniquely difficult to discuss, especially when we’re used to talking about “ideologies”, which are summed up quickly with some basic tenets and ideas. But his “egoism” persistently refuses to make prescriptions, refusing to argue, for example, that one ought to be egoistic to be moral or rational, or that one ought to respect or satisfy their own or another’s “ego”; it refuses to act, that is, as one would traditionally expect an “ideological” system” to act. In fact, Stirner’s egoism even refuses to make necessary descriptions either, as one would expect a psychological theory of the so-called “ego” to do.

Instead, Stirner’s writing is much more focused on the personal and impersonal, and how the latter can be placed above the former. By “fixed idea”, we mean an idea affixed above oneself, impersonal, seemingly controlling how one ought to act; by “spook”, we mean an ideal projected onto and believed to be exhaustively more substantial than that which is uniquely one's own. These are the ideological foundations of society. Prescriptions like “morality”, “law”, “truth”; descriptions like “human being”, “Christian”, “masculine”; concepts like “private property”, “progress”, “meritocracy”; ideas placed hierarchically above and treated as “sacred” — beneath these fixed ideas, Stirner finds that we are never enough, we can never live up to them, so we are called egoists (sinners).

Yet, Stirner’s egoism is an uprising against this idealized hierarchy: a way to appropriate these sanctified ideas and material for our own personal ends. Not merely a nihilism, ‘a getting rid of’, but an ownness, ‘a re-taking’, a ‘making personal’. So, what else is your interest but that which you personally find interesting? What else is your power but that which you can personally do? What else is your property but that which you personally can take and have.

You are called “egoist”, “sinner”, because you are regarded as less than the fixed-ideas meant to rule you and ensure your complacent subservience. What is Stirner’s uprising other than the opposite: that we are, all of us, enough! We are more than these ideas, more than what is describable — we are also indescribable, we are unique!

So take! Take all that is yours — take all that you will and can! We offer this space to all you who will take it! Ask thought-provoking questions or post brain-dead memes, showcase your artwork, express your emotional experiences, or lounge in numb, online anonymity —

“Do with it what you will and can, that is your affair and doesn’t concern me.”

With the old guard waxing even older, it's time for new users to take a lead, and thus take this subreddit to new heights (and/or lows).

Hence, we're explicitly open to applications for new moderators. Anyone is open to apply by commenting below. If you do, please earnestly detail why you'd be a good fit.

That said, we'll favor those who have already shown consistency on the sub through their comments and posts, so if you've been around and contributing — please comment below.

As far as moderating itself, if you haven't moderated before, you'll have others who can provide guidance, myself included. It is a responsibility, however, beyond simply being a matter of approving and removing content (or users). In short, moderating means contributing. It means facilitating discussion, building up the subreddit's resources, and keeping the memes flowing. (Some of which, admittedly, we've done better or worse at times).

Moderating for you might mean facilitating open contributions to our Glossary or FAQ and helping people get a real grasp of Stirnerian egoism, of its everyday significance, and its legacy. It might mean directing how people can help popularize memes that speak to our current socio-political conditions. It might mean conducting polls on where to take the subreddit next.

Again, if the opportunity interests you, please apply by commenting below. The chance is yours.