--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Modern anthropology ... opposes the…" description: "\"Modern anthropology ... opposes the utilitarian assumption that the primitive chants as he sows seed because he believes that otherwise it will not gro..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/john-carroll-16284_achievement_modern-anthropology-opposes-the-utilitar_79727.jpg" --- # Modern anthropology ... opposes the utilitarian assumption… ![“Modern anthropology ... opposes the utilitarian assumption that the primitive chants as he sows seed because he believes that otherwise it will not grow, the assumption that his economic goal is primary, and his other activities are instrumental to it. The planting and the cultivating are no less…” quote by John Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/john-carroll-16284_achievement_modern-anthropology-opposes-the-utilitar_79727.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/john-carroll-16284_achievement_modern-anthropology-opposes-the-utilitar_79727.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b3d/john-carroll-16284_achievement_modern-anthropology-opposes-the-utilitar_79727.jpg) > “Modern anthropology ... opposes the utilitarian assumption that the primitive chants as he sows seed because he believes that otherwise it will not grow, the assumption that his economic goal is primary, and his other activities are instrumental to it. The planting and the cultivating are no less important than the finished product. Life is not conceived as a linear progression directed to, and justified by, the achievement of a series of goals; it is a cycle in which ends cannot be isolated, one which cannot be dissected into a series of ends and means.” [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. The quote argues that human activity is cyclical and interconnected, rejecting a linear, goal‑oriented view that treats means as merely instrumental to ends. **In simple terms:** Life is a cycle, not a goal‑driven line. Key Takeaway Ends and means are inseparable. Themes Holism Anthropology Cyclical time Critique of utilitarianism Process philosophy Mood Reflective Contemplative Critical Type Philosophical Anthropological Critical When to use this quote - Analyzing indigenous rituals - Designing sustainable economies - Teaching interdisciplinary studies Key Concepts Interdependence Non‑linear causality Cultural relativism Practical Applications - Developing curricula that emphasize process over product - Creating policies that recognize cultural practices as integral, not peripheral Questions to Reflect On - How does viewing actions as part of a cycle change our evaluation of success? - What implications does this have for modern economic models? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Achievement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/achievement/) [Anthropology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anthropology/) [Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) [Cycles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cycles/) [Ends and means](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ends-and-means/) [Goal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goal/) [Goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goals/) [Primitive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/primitive/) [Progression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progression/) [Utilitarian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utilitarian/) ## Related quotes > [An organized product of nature is that in which all the parts are mutually ends and means.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/an-organized-product-of-nature-is-that-in-which-all-the-parts-are/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) > [All of us desire a better state of society. But society cannot become better before two great tasks are performed.Unless peace can be firmly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/all-of-us-desire-a-better-state-of-society-but-society-cannot-become/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [The ends and means are a seamless web.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/the-ends-and-means-are-a-seamless-web/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [The most controversial issues of the twenty-first century will pertain to the ends and means of modifying human behavior and who shall determine them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-goodlad/the-most-controversial-issues-of-the-twenty-first-century-will/) [John Goodlad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-goodlad/) > [In art the end does not sanctify the means: but sacred means employed here can sanctify the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/in-art-the-end-does-not-sanctify-the-means-but-sacred-means-employed/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The end does not justify the means. 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The function of the well-intentioned individuals in association…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/the-function-of-the-well-intentioned-individual-acting-in-isolation/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [It was van Gogh's madness that prevented him from working; the paintings themselves are ineffably sane, if sanity is to be defined in terms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hughes/it-was-van-gogh-s-madness-that-prevented-him-from-working-the/) [Robert Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hughes/) > [To have peace in the world, men & nations must embrace the nonviolent assertion that ends and means must cohere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther-king-jr/to-have-peace-in-the-world-men-nations-must-embrace-the-nonviolent/) [Martin Luther King, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther-king-jr/) ## More by 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/) > [Dostoevsky believed that the gods of rationalism and materialist utilitarianism had joined in conspiracy against all other ethical systems. ... The accumulation of capital,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-carroll/dostoevsky-believed-that-the-gods-of-rationalism-and-materialist/) [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 Achievement quotes > [You, of Canada, are building a magnificent record of achievement. My country rejoices in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/you-of-canada-are-building-a-magnificent-record-of-achievement-my/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [“If attempting to make the world a civilized one, makes you a bad woman in the eyes of the dumb patriarchal society, then, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/if-attempting-to-make-the-world-a-civilized-one-makes-you-a-bad-woman/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [One achieves true human dignity only when one serves. Only he is great who subjects himself to taking part in the achievement of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jose-antonio-primo-de-rivera/one-achieves-true-human-dignity-only-when-one-serves-only-he-is-great/) Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera > [Needs cause motivation. Deep-rooted desires for esteem, affection, belonging, achievement, self-actualization, power, and control motivate us to push for what we want and need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lorii-myers/needs-cause-motivation-deep-rooted-desires-for-esteem-affection/) [Lorii Myers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lorii-myers/) > [Each man is capable of doing one thing well. 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Contrary to popular belief, it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathaniel-branden/to-preserve-an-unclouded-capacity-for-the-enjoyment-of-life-is-an/) [Nathaniel Branden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathaniel-branden/) > [Joel Lane documents a life we don’t quite live, in a city we can’t quite find: half glimpsed and half imagined, we know it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaz-brenchley/joel-lane-documents-a-life-we-don-t-quite-live-in-a-city-we-can-t/) Chaz Brenchley > [The main substantive achievement of neoliberalism has been to redistribute rather than to generate wealth and income.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/the-main-substantive-achievement-of-neoliberalism-has-been-to/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [Every profession has an ideology and a drive for power that goes far beyond its achievements and it is the task of democracy to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-feyerabend/every-profession-has-an-ideology-and-a-drive-for-power-that-goes-far/) [Paul Feyerabend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-feyerabend/) > [We have Internet now and people are not stupid. 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Solitude will transmit the message better than the murmurs of crowds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-roerich/cease-speaking-of-enemies-when-an-achievement-can-kindle-a-great/) Nicholas Roerich > [Every scene is a challenge. There are technical challenges, but often it's the simplest challenge where you feel a sense of achievement when you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-deakins/every-scene-is-a-challenge-there-are-technical-challenges-but-often/) [Roger Deakins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-deakins/) [Browse all 3,867 Achievement quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/achievement/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Modern anthropology ... opposes the utilitarian assumption that the primitive chants as he sows seed because he believes that otherwise it will not grow, the assumption that his economic goal is primary, and his other activities are instrumental to it. 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