It seems that at least in some cases when I ask “Does this thing have a purpose?” the kind of answer I’m looking for includes “someone deliberately created it” but excludes “it’s valuable for someone”.
Can you give a more concrete example of what you’re looking for in those cases?
Maybe I misunderstood your point, but I feel “somebody deliberately created it”* is at least as weird a usage for “purpose” as the mistake pointed out in the op. Anything delibrately created or not can serve a purpose, original or not, on the condition there’s an agent deciding so. Something created for a purpose can also become obsolete over time.
*yeah this isn’t exactly what you said, but still...
Can you give a more concrete example of what you’re looking for in those cases?
Maybe I misunderstood your point, but I feel “somebody deliberately created it”* is at least as weird a usage for “purpose” as the mistake pointed out in the op. Anything delibrately created or not can serve a purpose, original or not, on the condition there’s an agent deciding so. Something created for a purpose can also become obsolete over time.
*yeah this isn’t exactly what you said, but still...