Coherence-based measures of explanatory power

Recent critiques have cast doubt on the viability of probabilistic measures of explanatory power. We respond by developing a coherence-based family of measures that sidesteps these challenges. Rather than assessing explanatory power solely by how well a hypothesis accounts for the evidence, these measures evaluate how well the entire explanatory package, including multiple explanantia, coheres with the explanandum compared to how well it coheres with its negation. We show that this approach accommodates key scientific judgments while preserving the virtues of a probabilistic framework.