The Ego and Its Own
Criticism of humanism as over-idealistic began in the 19th century. For Friedrich Nietzsche, humanism was nothing more than an empty figure of speech – a secular version of theism. Max Stirner expressed a similar position in his book "The Ego and Its Own", published several decades before Nietzsche's work. Nietzsche argues in "Genealogy of Morals" that human rights exist as a means for the weak to constrain the strong; as such, they do not facilitate the emancipation of life, but instead deny it.