--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Dostoevsky believed that the gods of…" description: "\"Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... The acc..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/john-carroll-16284_accumulation_dostoevsky-believed-that-the-gods-of-rat_1211088.jpg" --- # Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and… ![“Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... The accumulation of capital, or the acquisition of money, are endeavors par excellence which establish a quantifiable goal: hence they are directly…” quote by John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/john-carroll-16284_accumulation_dostoevsky-believed-that-the-gods-of-rat_1211088.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/john-carroll-16284_accumulation_dostoevsky-believed-that-the-gods-of-rat_1211088.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f93/john-carroll-16284_accumulation_dostoevsky-believed-that-the-gods-of-rat_1211088.jpg) > “Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... The accumulation of capital, or the acquisition of money, are endeavors par excellence which establish a quantifiable goal: hence they are directly amenable to maximization formulae.” [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Rationalist and materialist ideologies collaborate to prioritize profit, reducing ethics to calculable outcomes. **In simple terms:** Capitalism turns ethics into numbers. Key Takeaway Recognize ethical limits of profit‑driven thinking. Themes economics ethics philosophy Mood critical analytical Type political economic When to use this quote - business strategy - policy making - academic discussion Key Concepts utilitarianism materialism capital accumulation Questions to Reflect On - Can profit be aligned with moral values? - What ethical safeguards are needed? A Different Perspective Pure profit focus can ignore human welfare. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accumulation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accumulation/) [Acquisition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acquisition/) [Amenable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amenable/) [Conspiracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conspiracy/) [Endeavor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/endeavor/) [Excellence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/excellence/) [Goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goal/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) [Rationalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rationalism/) [Utilitarianism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utilitarianism/) ## Related quotes > [ Utilitarianism had found \[in Samuel Smiles' Self-Help\] its portrait gallery of heroes, inscribed with a vigorous exhortation to all men to strive in their… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/utilitarianism-had-found-in-samuel-smiles-self-help-its-portrait/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [The artist's work, it is sometimes said, is to celebrate. But really that is not so; it is to express wonder. And something terrible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-hampl/the-artist-s-work-it-is-sometimes-said-is-to-celebrate-but-really/) [Patricia Hampl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-hampl/) > [Man is an Animal, formidable both from his Passions and his Reason; his Passions often urging him to great Evils, and his Reason furnishing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-berkeley/man-is-an-animal-formidable-both-from-his-passions-and-his-reason-his/) [George Berkeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-berkeley/) > [Babies just change everything. You have to become super-selfless and super-tired and super-amenable to change. They just change all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-patrick-harris/babies-just-change-everything-you-have-to-become-super-selfless-and/) [Neil Patrick Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-patrick-harris/) > [Of all social institutions language is least amenable to initiative. It blends with the life of society, and the latter, inert by nature, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ferdinand-de-saussure/of-all-social-institutions-language-is-least-amenable-to-initiative/) [Ferdinand de Saussure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ferdinand-de-saussure/) > [Science does not promise absolute truth, nor does it consider that such a thing necessarily exists. Science does not even promise that everything in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/science-does-not-promise-absolute-truth-nor-does-it-consider-that/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/democracy-demands-that-the-religiously-motivated-translate-their-2/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [ We \[ with Emilio Estevez\] asked if we could take some things \[ in Breakfast Club\] that weren't in the shooting draft, but from… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judd-nelson/we-with-emilio-estevez-asked-if-we-could-take-some-things-in/) [Judd Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judd-nelson/) > [“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not pretend to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/in-short-i-am-amenable-to-criticism-but-only-within-the-sphere-of/) [Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/) > [Like most young physicists, when I was a kid enraptured with physics, I thought, "Everything can be explained by the theory of the atom!"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-frank/like-most-young-physicists-when-i-was-a-kid-enraptured-with-physics-i/) [Adam Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-frank/) > [And, speaking generally, passion seems not to be amenable to reason, but only to force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/and-speaking-generally-passion-seems-not-to-be-amenable-to-reason-but/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/if-asked-how-to-cope-with-a-great-host-of-the-enemy-in-orderly-array/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [I've been very lucky. Directors I've worked with have been very amenable to changes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felicity-jones/i-ve-been-very-lucky-directors-i-ve-worked-with-have-been-very/) [Felicity Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felicity-jones/) > [And the Truth turns out to be nothing less than the amazing but undeniable fact that the whole outer world -whether it be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmet-fox/and-the-truth-turns-out-to-be-nothing-less-than-the-amazing-but/) [Emmet Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmet-fox/) > [In the old days, people thought that wouldn't be amenable to life. Modern studies with computers have shown that it's okay to be tidally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-seager/in-the-old-days-people-thought-that-wouldn-t-be-amenable-to-life/) [Sara Seager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-seager/) ## More by John Carroll > [Modern anthropology ... opposes the utilitarian assumption that the primitive chants as he sows seed because he believes that otherwise it will not grow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/modern-anthropology-opposes-the-utilitarian-assumption-that-the/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [The enemies of Christ ... could not bear his independence; his "Give the emperor that which is the emperor's" showed a contempt for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/the-enemies-of-christ-could-not-bear-his-independence-his-give-the/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [Politics and the affairs of State are dissociated from the orbit of the individual, and in so far as they cannot be repossessed as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/politics-and-the-affairs-of-state-are-dissociated-from-the-orbit-of/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [The ugliness of the ideological lies in its legitimating the pursuit of the trivial.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/the-ugliness-of-the-ideological-lies-in-its-legitimating-the-pursuit/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [If man is to remain the creator and master of his world then, Stirner maintains, ... all that has been accepted, that has taken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/if-man-is-to-remain-the-creator-and-master-of-his-world-then-stirner/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [Dostoevsky's underground man ... observes his contemporaries striving to establish false goals where there are no naturally generated ones. ... He argues they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/dostoevsky-s-underground-man-observes-his-contemporaries-striving-to/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [The original of morals lies with the thought that 'the community is more valuable than the individual' (Menschliches 2.1.89](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/the-original-of-morals-lies-with-the-thought-that-the-community-is/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [ The garden \[of Eden\] is the realm of pure beauty from which man is expelled when he becomes interested in ethics, in the fruit… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/the-garden-of-eden-is-the-realm-of-pure-beauty-from-which-man-is/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [Unlike Hegel's progress model of history, which moves by stages, each containing its own logic of growth and decline, the economic model develops as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/unlike-hegel-s-progress-model-of-history-which-moves-by-stages-each/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [There is a strain in Marx of the cleric, of the vulgar moralist. He paints the capitalist and the bourgeois as incarnations of evil;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/there-is-a-strain-in-marx-of-the-cleric-of-the-vulgar-moralist-he/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [Nietzsche ... argues that all that passes in the life of a society is ephemeral and banausic except for the presence of great personalities,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/nietzsche-argues-that-all-that-passes-in-the-life-of-a-society-is/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [ Stirner and Nietzsche \[adopt\] a mode of thinking which is personal, introspective, and which while often operating on alternative systems of belief and action… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/stirner-and-nietzsche-adopt-a-mode-of-thinking-which-is-personal/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [Nietzsche himself was a great moralist; his writings abound with value judgments about individuals, character types, modes of thinking, and national traits. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/nietzsche-himself-was-a-great-moralist-his-writings-abound-with-value/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [Stirner and Nietzsche ... reveal how prone morality is to being used as a means of rationalization, a cloak for concealing violent and brutish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/stirner-and-nietzsche-reveal-how-prone-morality-is-to-being-used-as-a/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) > [Life is more than thought: what a man feels, and what his senses awaken in him, are more indispensable to his life's fullness than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/life-is-more-than-thought-what-a-man-feels-and-what-his-senses-awaken/) [John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) [Explore all 40 John Carroll quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-carroll/) ## More Accumulation quotes > [Age is an accumulation of life and loss. Adulthood is a series of lines crossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-goodman/age-is-an-accumulation-of-life-and-loss-adulthood-is-a-series-of/) [Ellen Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-goodman/) > [Before World War II, I was living a very cloistered existence, as most cartoonists do. The work I was pouring out did not come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-eisner/before-world-war-ii-i-was-living-a-very-cloistered-existence-as-most/) [Will Eisner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-eisner/) > [It is more than a little ironic that "capital accumulation" once a rather tendentious Marxian view of a supposed capitalist obsession, should have become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kuttner/it-is-more-than-a-little-ironic-that-capital-accumulation-once-a/) [Robert Kuttner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kuttner/) > [The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/the-accumulation-of-all-powers-legislative-executive-and-judiciary-in/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [I think that only daring speculation can lead us further and not accumulation of facts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/i-think-that-only-daring-speculation-can-lead-us-further-and-not/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [Karma is often wrongly confused with the notion of a fixed destiny. It is more like an accumulation of tendencies that can lock us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-kabat-zinn/karma-is-often-wrongly-confused-with-the-notion-of-a-fixed-destiny-it/) [Jon Kabat-Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-kabat-zinn/) > [There has been, for some reason (or more likely an unfortunate accumulation of reasons) a trend over the past several decades for parents to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-hax/there-has-been-for-some-reason-or-more-likely-an-unfortunate/) [Carolyn Hax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-hax/) > [Ageing is, simply and clearly, the accumulation of damage in the body. That's all that ageing is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aubrey-de-grey/ageing-is-simply-and-clearly-the-accumulation-of-damage-in-the-body/) [Aubrey de Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aubrey-de-grey/) > [For me, personally, there is one really interesting thing. You're all a bit too young for that, but when you get to a certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christoph-waltz/for-me-personally-there-is-one-really-interesting-thing-you-re-all-a/) [Christoph Waltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christoph-waltz/) > [The mounting burden of taxation not only undermines individual incentives to increased work and earnings, but in a score of ways discourages capital accumulation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-hazlitt/the-mounting-burden-of-taxation-not-only-undermines-individual/) [Henry Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-hazlitt/) > [When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. We shall…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/when-the-accumulation-of-wealth-is-no-longer-of-high-social/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-alexander-eastman/the-native-american-has-been-generally-despised-by-his-white/) [Charles Alexander Eastman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-alexander-eastman/) > [The soul lives forever by giving, not receiving. This is the grand paradox. You get most by giving most. Conversely, by receiving much you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-johnson/the-soul-lives-forever-by-giving-not-receiving-this-is-the-grand/) [Julian Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-johnson/) > [Forgiveness of the present is even more important than forgiveness of the past. If you forgive every moment - allow it to be as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/forgiveness-of-the-present-is-even-more-important-than-forgiveness-of/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kennedy/too-much-and-too-long-we-seem-to-have-surrendered-community/) [Robert Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kennedy/) [Browse all 412 Accumulation quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accumulation/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... 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