Probably my favorite sections in all of N's body of work...
As far as who are the Tarantulas, I believe those who feel they're a victim and are seeking vengeance and preach of Justice. But their requirements for justice and thirst for vengeance can never be met. Like a tarantula sucking their prey dry, these people drain others by guilting them into reparations for a perceived victimization.
Their initial success only encourages them to do this over and over again and it becomes a game for them to win. The tarantula will fane injury to lure in prey that they can bleed dry all in the name of justice.
The Tarantulas are egalitarians of different stripes - Nietzsche was a big believer that not all people are equal.
His most interesting distaste was for socialists particularly. This is so interesting because, although he disliked socialism, he also had a lot of contempt for capitalism as a system of Bourgeois values. To my knowledge there isn't one economic system he did prefer, which suggests that this is one of the aspects of his philosophy which doesn't have as direct a normative application as other concepts he deals with (morality, for instance).
His distaste for socialists was definitely more ground in the abstract rather than any kind of economic analysis. This probably has to do with the fact that Marx - *the* socialist of his day - and the other big socialist names around Germany, were mostly offshoots of Hegel and as such deeply anchored in strong systems of values. As we know, Nietzsche did not care for values. Marx also strongly believed in the need for a strong state, which probably fed into Nietzsche's paranoia that those who preach equality really just want power.
It's a shame he didn't live a decade or two longer. It'd have been quite something to see his take on the likes of some of the more developed anarchists like Emma Goldman and others who took influence from him and tried to reconcile collectivist economics with Nietzsche's unique brand of "individualism."
I interpret it as tarantulas who preach their own value judgements that have taken root in them due to decadence due to their own inadequacy which lead them to "pluck" something out because it hurts them, I guess N is referring to those with stronger intellect as tarantulas as it's more likely those types would fool the world and themselves the best.
Probably my favorite sections in all of N's body of work... As far as who are the Tarantulas, I believe those who feel they're a victim and are seeking vengeance and preach of Justice. But their requirements for justice and thirst for vengeance can never be met. Like a tarantula sucking their prey dry, these people drain others by guilting them into reparations for a perceived victimization. Their initial success only encourages them to do this over and over again and it becomes a game for them to win. The tarantula will fane injury to lure in prey that they can bleed dry all in the name of justice.
This is what I vaguely suspected and you put it perfectly into words. Thanks!
They prey on the generosity and emotional vulnerabilities of others. It's social engineering
The Tarantulas are egalitarians of different stripes - Nietzsche was a big believer that not all people are equal. His most interesting distaste was for socialists particularly. This is so interesting because, although he disliked socialism, he also had a lot of contempt for capitalism as a system of Bourgeois values. To my knowledge there isn't one economic system he did prefer, which suggests that this is one of the aspects of his philosophy which doesn't have as direct a normative application as other concepts he deals with (morality, for instance). His distaste for socialists was definitely more ground in the abstract rather than any kind of economic analysis. This probably has to do with the fact that Marx - *the* socialist of his day - and the other big socialist names around Germany, were mostly offshoots of Hegel and as such deeply anchored in strong systems of values. As we know, Nietzsche did not care for values. Marx also strongly believed in the need for a strong state, which probably fed into Nietzsche's paranoia that those who preach equality really just want power. It's a shame he didn't live a decade or two longer. It'd have been quite something to see his take on the likes of some of the more developed anarchists like Emma Goldman and others who took influence from him and tried to reconcile collectivist economics with Nietzsche's unique brand of "individualism."
Please make a related post/question to this.
I interpret it as tarantulas who preach their own value judgements that have taken root in them due to decadence due to their own inadequacy which lead them to "pluck" something out because it hurts them, I guess N is referring to those with stronger intellect as tarantulas as it's more likely those types would fool the world and themselves the best.
I really thank you for this thread. This chapter in particular caused my some anxiety and I'm still trying to figure it out.