Part 4/10:
Stirner outlines a three-part dialectical structure which he correlates to both personal growth and historical evolution. He describes the journey from “realistic childhood” through “idealistic youth” to “egoistic adulthood.” The child is bound by external constraints, which he learns to circumvent through intellectual development. The idealistic youth is then shackled by internalized ideals—the dogmas and morals inherited from society. It is only at the stage of egoistic adulthood that a person can assert their agency, free from both physical and idealistic chains.
This process of maturation forms the crux of Stirner's message: individuals must reclaim their own lives and reject the secular gods of society, be they abstract ideals or collective entities.