Tools
A tool is anything whatsoever which is used by an intelligent being
for realising its object. The idea of a desired end is inseparable
from a tool. The very essence of a tool is the being an instrument
for the achievement of a purpose. We say that a man is the tool of
another, meaning that he is being used for the furtherance of that
other's ends, and this constitutes him a machine in use. Therefore
the word "tool" implies also the existence of a living, intelligent
being capable of desiring the end for which the tool is used, for
this is involved in the idea of a desired end. And as few tools grow
naturally fit for use (for even a stick or a fuller's teasel must be
cut from their places and modified to some extent before they can be
called tools), the word "tool" implies not only a purpose and a
purposer, but a purposer who can see in what manner his purpose can
be achieved, and who can contrive (or find ready-made and fetch and
employ) the tool which shall achieve it.
Strictly speaking, nothing is a tool unless during actual use.
Nevertheless, if a thing has been made for the express purpose of
being used as a tool it is commonly called a tool, whether it is in
actual use or no. Thus hammers, chisels, etc., are called tools,
though lying idle in a tool-box. What is meant is that, though not
actually being used as instruments at the present moment, they bear
the impress of their object, and are so often in use that we may
speak of them as though they always were so.
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