nal purposes at least.

Later on a chapter is devoted to the special consideration of the
meaning of the subject matter of instruction. At this point, we need
only to say that, in contrast with the traditional theory, anything
which intelligence studies represents things in the part which they
play in the carrying forward of active lines of interest. Just as one
"studies" his typewriter as part of the operation of putting it to use
to effect results, so with any fact or truth. It becomes an object of
study--that is, of inquiry and reflection--when it figures as a factor
to be reckoned with in the completion of a course of events in which one
is engaged and by whose outcome one is affected. Numbers are not objects
of study just because they are numbers already constituting a branch of
learning called mathematics, but because they represent qualities and
relations of the world in which our action goes on, because they are
factors upon which the accomplishment of our purposes depends. Stated
thus broadly, the formula may appear abstract. Translated into details,
it means that the act of learning or studying is artificial and
ineffective in the degree in which pupils are merely presented with
a lesson to be learned. Study is effectual in the degree in which the
pupil realizes the place of the numerical truth he is dealing with
in carrying to fruition activities in which he is concerned. This
connection of an object and a topic with the promotion of an activity
having a purpose is the first and the last word of a genuine theory of
interest in education.

3. Some Social Aspects of the Question. While the theoretical errors
of which we have been speaking have their expressions in the conduct of
schools, they are themselves the outcome of conditions of social life.
A change confined to the theoretical conviction of educators will not
remove the difficulties, though it should render more effective efforts
to modify social conditions. Men's fundamental attitudes toward the
world are fixed by the scope and qualities of the activities in which
they partake. The ideal of interest is exemplified in the artistic
attitude. Art is neither merely internal nor merely external; merely
mental nor merely physical. Like every mode of action, it brings about
changes in the world. The changes made by some actions (those which
by contrast may be called mechanical) are external; they are shifting
things about. No ideal reward, no enrichment of e