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SEEKING THE CAUSES 105
the individual, in his power for evil, and in his power to
remove that evil.
In many anarchists, however, this deification of the individual
induces a morbid and diseased egotism which
drives them to the most amazing excesses ; among others,
the yearning to commit some memorable act of revolt in
order to be remembered. In fact, the ego in its worst,
as well as in its best aspect, dominates the thought and
the literature of anarchism. Max Stirner, considered
by some the founder of philosophical anarchism, calls his
book "The Ego and His Own." "Whether what I think
and do is Christian," he writes, "what do I care
Whether it is human, liberal, humane, whether unhuman,
illiberal, inhuman, what do I ask about that If only it
accomplishes what I want, if only I satisfy myself in it,
then overlay it with predicates as you will it is all alike
;
to me." (18) "Consequently my relation to the world
is this: I no longer do anything for it 'for God's sake,'
I do nothing 'for man's sake,' but what I do I do 'for my
sake.' " (19) "Where the world comes in my way — and
it comes in my way everywhere — I consume it to quiet
the hunger of my egoism.
— my food, even as I, too, am fed upon
For me you are nothing but
and turned to
use by you." (20)
Here society is conceived of as merely a collection of
egos. The world is a history of gods and of devils. All
the evils of the time are embodied in individual tyrants.
Some of these individuals control the social forces, others
the political,
still others the industrial forces. As individuals,
they overpower and enslave their individual ene-
the source of
mies. Remove a man and you destroy
tyranny. A judge commits a man to death, and the
judge is dynamited. A Prime Minister sends the army
to shoot down striking workmen and the Prime Minister