ontic - of, relating to, or having real being.
Fictional models play an explanatory role in science, but there is resistance to idea that fictions can explain.
Using the example of Newtonian force explanations of the tides, I show how, even in science, fiction can be a vehicle for truth.
Jacob Abbott argues fictional stories are not only effective vehicles for communicating the truths of morality, but they do so far more effectively than true accounts of moral acts.
In the context of art, Pablo Picasso, for example, writes “Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand”
Hans Vaihinger four key characteristics of scifi
Fictions deviate from reality
Fictions are ultimately to be eliminated
There must be an express awareness that the fiction is just a fiction.
“Where there is no expediency the fiction is unscientific”
Fiction only induces an illusion of understanding.
When trying to understand the nature of scientific explanation, it is helpful to take a step back and remember why it is we seek explanations: the goal of explanation is, arguably, understanding.
part of what makes a fiction scientific is the express awareness that it is strictly speaking false.