title: The ontic conception of scientific explanation.
abstract: Wesley Salmon's version of the ontic conception of explanation is a main historical root of contemporary work on mechanistic explanation. This paper examines and critiques the philosophical merits of Salmon's version, and argues that his conception's most fundamental construct is either fundamentally obscure, or else reduces to a non-ontic conception of explanation. Either way, the ontic conception is a misconception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Boulevard, Long Beach, CA 90840-2408, United States. Electronic address: cory.wright@zoho.com.
authors.forename: Cory
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wright
keywords: Causal explanation; Filler terms; Mechanism; Mechanistic explanation; Ontic conception; Wesley Salmon