The active occupations in which
appliances are brought to bear upon physical things with the
intention of effecting useful changes is the most vital
introduction to the experimental method.
3. Work and Play. What has been termed active occupation
includes both play and work. In their intrinsic meaning, play
and industry are by no means so antithetical to one another as is
often assumed, any sharp contrast being due to undesirable social
conditions. Both involve ends consciously entertained and the
selection and adaptations of materials and processes designed to
effect the desired ends. The difference between them is largely
one of time-span, influencing the directness of the connection of
means and ends. In play, the interest is more direct -- a fact
frequently indicated by saying that in play the activity is its
own end, instead of its having an ulterior result. The statement
is correct, but it is falsely taken, if supposed to mean that
play activity is momentary, having no element of looking ahead
and none of pursuit. Hunting, for example, is one of the
commonest forms of adult play, but the existence of foresight and
the direction of present activity by what one is watching for are
obvious. When an activity is its own end in the sense that the
action of the moment is complete in itself, it is purely
physical; it has no meaning (See p. 77). The person is either
going through motions quite blindly, perhaps purely imitatively,
or else is in a state of excitement which is exhausting to mind
and nerves.
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