Distinguishing Explanatory from Nonexplanatory Fictions

There is a growing recognition that fictions have a number of legitimate functions in science, even when it comes to scientific explanation. However, the question then arises, what distinguishes an explanatory fiction from a nonexplanatory one? Here I examine two cases-one in which there is a consensus in the scientific community that the fiction is explanatory and another in which the fiction is not explanatory. I shall show how my account of model explanations is able to explain this asymmetry, and argue that realism-of a more subtle form-does have a role in distinguishing explanatory from nonexplanatory fictions.