Analyze what counts as scientific explanation (especially in multiverse contexts)

Develop a substantive, general account of scientific explanation adequate to multiverse reasoning—one that distinguishes explanatory strategies based on genericity/typicality from those invoking selection effects, and that guides confirmation in cosmology and other sciences.

Background

Chapter 5 shows that multiverse-based explanations can proceed by making observed values generic/typical or by appealing to observation-selection (anthropic) effects; both strategies face conceptual and methodological challenges (measure, conditionalization, typicality) when applied to cosmological parameters.

The author flags the underlying question—what counts as explanation in these settings—as a central unresolved philosophical issue.