Johann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary grandfathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism. Stirner's main work is The Ego and Its Own, also known as The Ego and His Own . This work was first published in 1844 in Leipzig, and has since appeared in numerous editions and translations.