Purpose vs. Reason — What's the Difference?
"Purpose" is the intended or desired goal of an action, while "Reason" is the justification or cause for an action or event. Both pertain to motivations but from different angles.
Difference Between Purpose and Reason
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
"Purpose" typically speaks to the intention or objective behind an action or a decision. For instance, one might attend a seminar with the purpose of gaining knowledge. The underlying goal provides direction and meaning to the activity. On the other hand, "Reason" delves into the cause or justification for that decision. In the seminar example, the reason could be a job requirement, thereby providing a rationale for attending.
When we discuss "Purpose," we often look forward to a desired outcome or result. It's about the "why" in terms of aims and goals. In contrast, when we discuss "Reason," we're often looking backward or into the immediate present to understand the cause or rationale. It explains the "why" in terms of causality.
Both "Purpose" and "Reason" can drive decisions, behaviors, and actions. However, while a purpose can inspire and motivate, a reason can explain and justify. For example, a person might take up a job for the purpose of personal fulfillment, but the reason could be financial needs.
Understanding both "Purpose" and "Reason" can offer clarity in decision-making. By identifying a clear purpose, individuals can align their actions with their broader goals. Recognizing the reason can help understand the immediate factors influencing a choice.
Comparison Chart
Definition
The goal or intention behind an action.
The cause or justification for an action.
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Orientation
Forward-looking (towards an outcome).
Backward-looking or present (explaining causality).
Function
Motivates or gives direction.
Explains or justifies.
Context
Often used in planning and aspirational scenarios.
Often used in explanations or rationalizations.
Example
Attending school to gain knowledge.
Attending school because it's a societal norm.
Compare with Definitions
Purpose
The intended outcome of an action.
The purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm ideas.
Reason
A cause or justification for an action or event.
The reason for his absence was illness.
Purpose
An individual's sense of resolve or determination.
She woke up every day with a clear purpose.
Reason
A motive or basis for a belief.
The reason I trust her is her consistent honesty.
Purpose
The function of something in a particular situation.
The main purpose of the tool is to fix machines.
Reason
Grounds or a fact used in support of an argument.
The main reason for the change was to improve efficiency.
Purpose
The object toward which one strives or for which something exists; an aim or goal
Her purpose in coming here is to talk to you. The purpose of an airliner is to transport people.
Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic to seek truth and draw conclusions from new or existing information. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered to be a distinguishing ability possessed by humans.
Purpose
Determination; resolution
He was a man of purpose.
Reason
The basis or motive for an action, decision, or conviction
There are good reasons to learn a foreign language. See Usage Notes at because, why.
Purpose
To intend or resolve
"the gap between what is said and what is purposed" (Ian Donaldson).
Reason
A declaration made to explain or justify action, decision, or conviction
What reasons did she give for leaving?.
Purpose
The end for which something is done, is made or exists.
What is the purpose of your visit?
My purpose in coming to Egypt was simply to take it en route to the desert.
It has been my purpose to illustrate rather than to explain.
The exceptionally small gate-leg table served the purpose of a tea table admirably.
The purpose of the device is to prevent the breechblock from opening accidentally should the gun be held barrel down.
The purpose of this letter is to set the record straight.
The purpose of this book is to study the interrelationship of government and religion.
The device can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
The purpose of turning off the lights overnight is to save energy.
Reason
A fact or cause that explains why something exists or has occurred
The reason for the building's collapse is unknown.
Purpose
Function, role.
Reason
(Logic) A premise, usually the minor premise, of an argument.
Purpose
(Sense of having a) meaning for existing or doing something.
Reason
The capacity for logical, rational, and analytic thought; intelligence
"Most of us would like to believe that when we say something is right or wrong, we are using our powers of reason alone" (Carl Zimmer).
Purpose
Resolution; determination.
Reason
The limit of what is reasonable
"It is a curious thing that, when a man hates or loves beyond reason, he is ready to go beyond reason to gratify his feelings" (Rudyard Kipling).
Purpose
(obsolete) The subject of discourse; the point at issue.
Reason
A normal mental state; sanity
He has lost his reason.
Purpose
(transitive) To have or set as one's purpose or aim; resolve to accomplish; intend; plan.
Reason
To determine or conclude by logical thinking
The doctor reasoned that the patient had a virus.
Purpose
(intransitive) To have (an) intention, purpose, or design; to intend; to mean.
Reason
To persuade or dissuade (someone) with reasons
"You boast ... of having reasoned him out of his absurd romance" (William Makepeace Thackeray).
Purpose
To discourse.
Reason
To use the faculty of reason; think logically
What would lead you to reason so?.
Purpose
That which a person sets before himself as an object to be reached or accomplished; the end or aim to which the view is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan.
He will his firste purpos modify.
As my eternal purpose hath decreed.
The flighty purpose never is o'ertookUnless the deed go with it.
Reason
To talk or argue logically and persuasively
Tried to reason with her son to eat a good breakfast.
Purpose
Proposal to another; discourse.
Reason
(Obsolete) To engage in conversation or discussion.
Purpose
Instance; example.
Reason
A cause:
Purpose
To set forth; to bring forward.
Reason
That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
The reason this tree fell is that it had rotted.
Purpose
To propose, as an aim, to one's self; to determine upon, as some end or object to be accomplished; to intend; to design; to resolve; - often followed by an infinitive or dependent clause.
Did nothing purpose against the state.
I purpose to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living.
Reason
A motive for an action or a determination.
The reason I robbed the bank was that I needed the money.
If you don't give me a reason to go with you, I won't.
Purpose
To have a purpose or intention; to discourse.
Reason
An excuse: a thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation.
Purpose
An anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions;
His intent was to provide a new translation
Good intentions are not enough
It was created with the conscious aim of answering immediate needs
He made no secret of his designs
Reason
(logic) A premise placed after its conclusion.
Purpose
What something is used for;
The function of an auger is to bore holes
Ballet is beautiful but what use is it?
Reason
(uncountable) Rational thinking (or the capacity for it); the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition.
Mankind should develop reason above all other virtues.
Purpose
The quality of being determined to do or achieve something;
His determination showed in his every movement
He is a man of purpose
Reason
(obsolete) Something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice.
Purpose
Propose or intend;
I aim to arrive at noon
Reason
Ratio; proportion.
Purpose
Reach a decision;
He resolved never to drink again
Reason
(intransitive) To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational
Purpose
The reason for which something exists.
The purpose of the device is to make tasks easier.
Reason
(intransitive) To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue.
Purpose
A person's ambition or the goal they aim to achieve.
Her purpose in life was to help others.
Reason
To converse; to compare opinions.
Reason
(ambitransitive) To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss.
I reasoned the matter with my friend.
Reason
To support with reasons, as a request.
Reason
(transitive) To persuade by reasoning or argument.
To reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan
Reason
To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons.
To reason down a passion
Reason
To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument.
To reason out the causes of the librations of the moon
Reason
A thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; a just ground for a conclusion or an action; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation; the efficient cause of an occurrence or a phenomenon; a motive for an action or a determination; proof, more or less decisive, for an opinion or a conclusion; principle; efficient cause; final cause; ground of argument.
I'll give him reasons for it.
The reason of the motion of the balance in a wheel watch is by the motion of the next wheel.
This reason did the ancient fathers render, why the church was called "catholic."
Virtue and vice are not arbitrary things; but there is a natural and eternal reason for that goodness and virtue, and against vice and wickedness.
Reason
The faculty or capacity of the human mind by which it is distinguished from the intelligence of the inferior animals; the higher as distinguished from the lower cognitive faculties, sense, imagination, and memory, and in contrast to the feelings and desires. Reason comprises conception, judgment, reasoning, and the intuitional faculty. Specifically, it is the intuitional faculty, or the faculty of first truths, as distinguished from the understanding, which is called the discursive or ratiocinative faculty.
We have no other faculties of perceiving or knowing anything divine or human, but by our five senses and our reason.
In common and popular discourse, reason denotes that power by which we distinguish truth from falsehood, and right from wrong, and by which we are enabled to combine means for the attainment of particular ends.
Reason is used sometimes to express the whole of those powers which elevate man above the brutes, and constitute his rational nature, more especially, perhaps, his intellectual powers; sometimes to express the power of deduction or argumentation.
By the pure reason I mean the power by which we become possessed of principles.
The sense perceives; the understanding, in its own peculiar operation, conceives; the reason, or rationalized understanding, comprehends.
Reason
Due exercise of the reasoning faculty; accordance with, or that which is accordant with and ratified by, the mind rightly exercised; right intellectual judgment; clear and fair deductions from true principles; that which is dictated or supported by the common sense of mankind; right conduct; right; propriety; justice.
I was promised, on a time,To have reason for my rhyme.
But law in a free nation hath been ever public reason; the enacted reason of a parliament, which he denying to enact, denies to govern us by that which ought to be our law; interposing his own private reason, which to us is no law.
The most probable way of bringing France to reason would be by the making an attempt on the Spanish West Indies.
Reason
Ratio; proportion.
When anything is proved by as good arguments as a thing of that kind is capable of, we ought not, in reason, to doubt of its existence.
Yet it were great reason, that those that have children should have greatest care of future times.
Reason
To exercise the rational faculty; to deduce inferences from premises; to perform the process of deduction or of induction; to ratiocinate; to reach conclusions by a systematic comparison of facts.
Reason
Hence: To carry on a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to formulate and set forth propositions and the inferences from them; to argue.
Stand still, that I may reason with you, before the Lord, of all the righteous acts of the Lord.
Reason
To converse; to compare opinions.
Reason
To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss; as, I reasoned the matter with my friend.
When they are clearly discovered, well digested, and well reasoned in every part, there is beauty in such a theory.
Reason
To support with reasons, as a request.
Reason
To persuade by reasoning or argument; as, to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan.
Men that will not be reasoned into their senses.
Reason
To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons; - with down; as, to reason down a passion.
Reason
To find by logical processes; to explain or justify by reason or argument; - usually with out; as, to reason out the causes of the librations of the moon.
Reason
A rational motive for a belief or action;
The reason that war was declared
The grounds for their declaration
Reason
An explanation of the cause of some phenomenon;
The reason a steady state was never reached was that the back pressure built up too slowly
Reason
The capacity for rational thought or inference or discrimination;
We are told that man is endowed with reason and capable of distinguishing good from evil
Reason
The state of having good sense and sound judgment;
His rationality may have been impaired
He had to rely less on reason than on rousing their emotions
Reason
A justification for something existing or happening;
He had no cause to complain
They had good reason to rejoice
Reason
A fact that logically justifies some premise or conclusion;
There is reason to believe he is lying
Reason
Decide by reasoning; draw or come to a conclusion;
We reasoned that it was cheaper to rent than to buy a house
Reason
Present reasons and arguments
Reason
Think logically;
The children must learn to reason
Reason
The power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments.
Humans have the capacity for reason.
Reason
A statement presented in justification or explanation.
He couldn't understand the reason behind her decision.
Common Curiosities
Can something have multiple purposes?
Yes, an action or object can serve multiple purposes.
Are "Purpose" and "Reason" interchangeable?
Not always. "Purpose" denotes intention/goal, while "Reason" indicates justification/cause.
Is "Purpose" always future-oriented?
Often, but not always. While it often looks to a desired outcome, it can be present-focused.
Does every action need to have a reason?
Most actions have reasons, even if they aren't immediately obvious or rational.
Can there be multiple reasons for one action?
Absolutely, actions can have multiple reasons or causes behind them.
Is a life purpose the same as a life goal?
Not exactly. A life purpose is a general direction or intent, while goals are specific milestones.
Is a reason always factual?
Not necessarily. Reasons can be subjective and vary from person to person.
Can reason be emotional?
Yes, reasons can be based on emotions, logic, or a combination of both.
Is "Purpose" always positive?
Not necessarily. While it often has positive connotations, purposes can be neutral or negative depending on context.
Can one's purpose change over time?
Absolutely. People's purposes can evolve based on experiences and changes in perspective.
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