In May 1856, still living in reduced circumstances in Berlin, Stirner fell into a “nervous fever”, seemingly after being stung in the neck by an insect. Following a brief remission, he died on 25 June (aged 49 years and 8 months). His death went largely unnoticed by the outside world.

It might look as if there is a stark contrast between the often melodramatic and provocative tone of Stirner’s best-known work, on the one hand, and the more mundane, sometimes poignant, events of his own solitary life, on the other. However, commentators often strive to link his life and philosophical views more closely. John Henry Mackay, for example, emphasizes the “ataraxic” dimension of The Ego and Its Own, and portrays Stirner’s life as an authentic embodiment of the emotional detachment that the egoist must cultivate in order to avoid being enslaved by their own passions and commitments. Even the pathos of Stirner’s death is said to reflect the egoist’s refusal to love life, or fear death, excessively (Mackay 1914: 212).