The ontic conception of explanation, according to which explanations are "full-bodied things in the world," is fundamentally misguided. The speaker argues instead for what she calls the eikonic conception of scientific explanation, according to which explanations are an epistemic activity involving representations of the phenomena to be explained.
Alisa Bokulich received her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame’s Program in History and Philosophy of Science. She is the director of B.U.’s Center for Philosophy & History of Science at BU since 2010, where she also organizes the Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science.