I think "purpose" can refer both to the "why" and to the "what", as long as the "what" is a major "end in itself/goal" for someone.

E.g. "he found his life's purpose in playing the guitar" - this doesn't answer "why" he plays guitar, but it's a common way of putting it, no?

Here's another example from wordreference.com: "His purpose in life is to give a home to street cats" (again, no why, but a what.

Out of context I obviously can't say for sure either way, but I'd assume in either example there's a deeper why behind both.

Maybe he found meaning in playing the guitar because it allowed him to share a message, or improve others' lives through song. I'd be really surprised if the actual purpose behind it really did come down to the actual act of playing the guitar.

I'm probably getting too nitpicky or semantic here, sorry if I am. I do think the distinction is an important one though, a lot of problems can show up if the "what" is treated as the purpose or meaning in one's life and we forget the "why" behind it.

>a lot of problems can show up if the "what" is treated as the purpose or meaning in one's life and we forget the "why" behind it.

Maybe not necessarily. I mean, as long as the person is content and it's a healthy thing for them, then does it matter if they don't have a "why" for the thing that they consider their purpose to follow? I mean, if they don't have any "why" beyond "because I like it/it makes me happy"?

Well I'm definitely getting semantic here, hopefully it is to make a good point and not just annoying.

I think the purpose behind that would be to live a happy life for oneself. How one does that would be different for everyone, but I'd see that as the why behind doing something just because you enjoy it.

Said differently, two people with the same purpose can have wildly different ways of achieving it. What's more interesting, and more helpful as things change and one has to adjust, is knowing the why and how my purpose differs from others.

For example, in the curing cancer example if your purpose behind that goal is to save lives or reduce suffering, curing cancer is just the result of balancing what you think is possible and the impact it could have. If you learn that curing cancer is more difficult, you may pivot to a different goal but for the same purpose.

It also says something of the ways in which you may accidentally go wrong. If your goal is to save lives, you may miss the mark on saving lives but almost certainly wouldn't knowingly do something that will harm people in the long wrong. If your goal is to cure cancer to get rich, you may very well accept long term damage to people if it gets you rich now and you cover your ass for later (aka most of the pharmaceutical industry).