According to the seminal account of purposivism, interpreters should “decide what purpose ought to be attributed to the statute and to any subordinate provision of it which may be involved” on the assumption that the statute consisted of “reasonable persons pursuing reasonable purposes reasonably” (Hart and Sacks 1994, 1374, 1378). This formulation makes clear that the relevant purpose is not that of any actual person or body, but a purpose that is imputed based on an idealization. In addition, the meaning of the words is to be subordinated to the objectified purpose: purposivists “[i]nterpret the words of the statute immediately in question so as to carry out the purpose” as well as possible (Hart and Sacks 1994, 1374). Barak (2005, chaps. 6–8) develops a more complex position that gives a role to both actual and objectified purpose.