A tool -- a knife, say -- is merely a chunk of inert metal. It has no inherent meaning whatsoever. It is meaningful only insofar as it is placed into a social

A tool -- a knife, say -- is merely a chunk of inert metal. It has no inherent meaning whatsoever. It is meaningful only insofar as it is placed into a social context. Any meaning is in the observers' minds, not in the tool itself.