Editing Tool (section)

== Definition ==
While a common-sense understanding of the meaning of tool is widespread, several formal definitions have been proposed.

In 1981, Benjamin Beck published a widely used definition of tool use.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beck |first=Benjamin B. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5607368 |title=Animal tool behavior: the use and manufacture of tools by animals |date=1980 |publisher=Garland STPM Pub |isbn=0-8240-7168-9 |location=New York |oclc=5607368 |access-date=2022-08-28 |archive-date=2022-08-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220829130907/https://www.worldcat.org/title/5607368 |url-status=live }}</ref> This has been modified to:{{blockquote|The external employment of an unattached or manipulable attached environmental object to alter more efficiently the form, position, or condition of another object, another organism, or the user itself, when the user holds and directly manipulates the tool during or prior to use and is responsible for the proper and effective orientation of the tool.<ref name="Shumaker">{{cite book |isbn=978-0801898532 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dx7slq__udwC&dq=Animal+Tool+Behaviour%3A+The+Use+and+Manufacture+of+Tools+by+Animals&pg=PT24 |title=Animal Tool Behavior: The Use and Manufacture of Tools by Animals |last1=Shumaker |first1=Robert W. |last2=Walkup |first2=Kristina R. |last3=Beck |first3=Benjamin B. |date=2 May 2011 | publisher=JHU Press |access-date=28 August 2022 |archive-date=29 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220829130957/https://books.google.com/books?id=Dx7slq__udwC&dq=Animal+Tool+Behaviour%3A+The+Use+and+Manufacture+of+Tools+by+Animals&pg=PT24 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}Other, briefer definitions have been proposed:{{blockquote|An object carried or maintained for future use.|Finn, Tregenza, and Norman, 2009.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Finn |first1=Julian K. |last2=Tregenza |first2=Tom |last3=Norman |first3=Mark D. |year=2009 |title=Defensive tool use in a coconut-carrying octopus |journal=Curr. Biol. |volume=19 |issue=23 |pages=R1069–R1070 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.052 |pmid=20064403 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2009CBio...19R1069F |s2cid=26835945}}</ref>}}{{blockquote|The use of physical objects other than the animal's own body or appendages as a means to extend the physical influence realized by the animal.|Jones and Kamil, 1973<ref name="Jones and Kamil">{{Cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=T. B. |last2=Kamil |first2=A. C. |year=1973 |title=Tool-making and tool-using in the northern blue jay |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=bioscibehavior |journal=Science |volume=180 |issue=4090 |pages=1076–1078 |bibcode=1973Sci...180.1076J |doi=10.1126/science.180.4090.1076 |pmid=17806587 |s2cid=22011846 |access-date=2022-08-28 |archive-date=2022-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510084238/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=bioscibehavior |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>}}{{blockquote|An object that has been modified to fit a purpose ... [or] An inanimate object that one uses or modifies in some way to cause a change in the environment, thereby facilitating one's achievement of a target goal.|Hauser, 2000<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhandbookof0000unse_s6g5/page/232 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0195-3719-63 |editor-last=Tom L. Beauchamp |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhandbookof0000unse_s6g5/page/232 232] |editor-last2=R.G. Frey}}</ref>}}