The word purpose is a slippery word. It has many meanings. For example:

• It can mean, does X have any benefit to some being? “The purpose, to earthworms, of humans is to grow trees that drop leaves to eat.”
• It can mean, is X earmarked for some project? “Does that pile of rocks over there have a purpose or is it just discards.”
• It can mean, was X constructed to achieve some end and what was that end? “Does this pointed flint have purpose?”
• It can mean, presumably a god created this. why? “What is the purpose of the universe.”

The concept of purpose presumes some being enjoying X as a means to an end. To be clear, you need to be explicit who that being is, because the answer differs for different beings. People often pretend to be looking for a universal purpose, when they actually mean a purpose for an imaginary god. When they say “The universe must have a purpose, therefore god exists.” they are playing word games. The notion of universal purpose presumes a god. So they are basically presuming the existence of god to prove the existence of god or sneakily trick people into accepting the notion of god, a rather dishonest bit of circular logic.

~ Roedy (born: 1948-02-04 age: 64)