"The Ego and His Own," the seminal defence of individualism, coloured the thinki
ng of Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Emst, Henrik Ibsen and Victor Serge, among many o
thers, some of whom would vigorously deny any such influence in later years. Les
s reticent was Marcel Duchamp, who described Max Stimer as the philosopher most
important to his work. Challenging the religious, philosophical and political co
nstraints on personal freedom, Stimer criticizes all doctrines and beliefs that
place the interests of God, the state, humanity or society over those of the ind
ividual.
