# purpose (goal)

a goal that is about why a thing is done

- Computed level: L9 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: common  ·  Arena: emergenceLexicon

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [goal](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-goal.purpose), [meaning](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-meaning.significance)

**Through:** the goal and meaning together are about why a thing is done

**Novel properties:**
- reason for action
- intentional direction

## Examples
- The Mars Curiosity rover continues analyzing soil samples a decade after landing, despite planned mission duration of 687 Earth days. *(engineering)*
- The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates to 5.25% in 2023 to curb inflation, aiming to stabilize the dollar's purchasing power. *(economics)*
- Photosystem II in spinach chloroplasts splits water molecules to sustain electron flow for sugar synthesis during daylight hours. *(biology)*

## Used by
- [application](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-application.use) (L10)
- [club](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-club.social) (L10)
- [function](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-function.purpose) (L10)
- [fund](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-fund.financial) (L17)
- [organization](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-organization.administrative) (L10)
- [project](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-project.plan) (L10)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-purpose.goal*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-purpose.goal.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*