ABSTRACT
The neo-Kantian historicists regarded historical epochs as differing in the mental structures. Dispositions are part of history limited to the mental life of actual historical persons. The dictionary model works the other way around: It proceeds from actual usage and reconstructs definitions from what is actually said and how terms are applied. The Olympias is a model, made with a combination of physical elements, some are close to those we believe to be characteristic of triremes in the ancient world, some are functional substitutes with different properties. The terms 'assumption', 'presupposition', 'rule', and the like are terms with an explicit sense, which is being extended to a sense which is tacit and entirely a matter of ascription by the analyst. Tarcov's comment shows a way out of the muddle: the supposed historical facts about assumptions and whatnot on which interpretation allegedly depends and the banal stuff of dictionary definitions and simplifications of actual semantic usage.
