 The argument from corroboration thus runs as follows. The fact that one and the same thing is apparently revealed by distinct modes of detection suggests that it would be an extraordinary coincidence if the supposed target of these revelations did not, in fact, exist. The greater the extent to which detections can be corroborated by different means, the stronger the argument for realism regarding their putative target. The argument here can be viewed as resting on an intuition similar to that underlying the miracle argument: realism based on apparent detection may be only so compelling, but if different, theoretically independent means of detection produce the same result, suggesting the existence of one and the same unobservable, then realism provides a good explanation of the consilient evidence, in contrast with the arguably miraculous state of affairs in which theoretically independent techniques produce the same result in the absence of a shared target. The idea that techniques of (putative) detection are often constructed or calibrated precisely with the intention of reproducing the outputs of others, however, may stand against the argument from corroboration. Additionally, van Fraassen (1985: 297–298) argues that scientific explanations of evidential consilience may be accepted without the explanations themselves being understood as true, which once again raises questions about the nature of scientific explanation.