Representing and Explaining: The Eikonic Conception of Scientific Explanation. Issue 5 (December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bokulich, Alisa
• Is Part Of: Philosophy of science. Volume 85:Issue 5(2018)
• Page Start: 793
• Page End: 805
• Publication Date: 2018-12
• Subjects: Science -- Periodicals; Science -- Philosophy; Science; Science -- Philosophy; Philosophie des sciences; Epistemology; Periodicals; 501
• DOI: 10.1086/699693
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1539-767X

Abstract

Abstract: The ontic conception of explanation, according to which explanations are full-bodied things in the world, is fundamentally misguided. I argue instead for what I call the eikonic conception, according to which explanations are the product of an epistemic activity involving representations of the phenomena to be explained. What is explained in the first instance is a particular conceptualization of the explanandum phenomenon, contextualized within a given research program or explanatory project. I conclude that this eikonic conception has a number of benefits, including making better sense of scientific practice and allowing for the full range of normative constraints on explanation.