Like play, it signifies purposeful activity
and differs not in that activity is subordinated to an external
result, but in the fact that a longer course of activity is
occasioned by the idea of a result. The demand for continuous
attention is greater, and more intelligence must be shown in
selecting and shaping means. To extend this account would be to
repeat what has been said under the caption of aim, interest, and
thinking. It is pertinent, however, to inquire why the idea is
so current that work involves subordination of an activity to an
ulterior material result. The extreme form of this
subordination, namely drudgery, offers a clew. Activity carried
on under conditions of external pressure or coercion is not
carried on for any significance attached to the doing. The
course of action is not intrinsically satisfying; it is a mere
means for avoiding some penalty, or for gaining some reward at
its conclusion. What is inherently repulsive is endured for the
sake of averting something still more repulsive or of securing a
gain hitched on by others. Under unfree economic conditions,
this state of affairs is bound to exist. Work or industry offers
little to engage the emotions and the imagination; it is a more
or less mechanical series of strains. Only the hold which the
completion of the work has upon a person will keep him going.
But the end should be intrinsic to the action; it should be its
end -- a part of its own course.
Pages:
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335