What is a knife?
What is its purpose?
What is a tree?
What is its purpose?
What is a man?
What is his purpose?
In order to define something we might consider a number of
aspects – description, concept, function, potential and purpose. A thing is easier
to define if it has a function or purpose. Eg. Cheese-grater - a device for
grating cheese.
A function is just a description of what the thing is doing
in a particular context – it can have a function without having a purpose. Eg.
Tree, spider, man
Purpose implies intelligence and time. A fire extinguisher
has a purpose, even if it never functions (ie puts out a fire)
A ladder, a spider’s web, a symphony, a heart, an iPad all
have a purpose.
God (the human invention) has a purpose – to inspire, act as
a moral compass, give humans a purpose. But God (the supreme being) cannot have
a purpose as he was not designed by someone else. As the old hymn goes: ‘God is
working his purpose out as year succeeds to year’.
Energy is a concept (ie something we have conceived) the
concept of energy has a purpose (to clarify our understanding of the universe).
Energy itself does not have a purpose (though it does have a function).
