Grounding (metaphysics)

Grounding is the metaphysical relation by which one fact or entity makes another fact or entity obtain. It is not causation — the grounded does not happen after the ground — but rather a relation of metaphysical determination: the fact that a statue is round is grounded in the fact that its molecules are arranged in a certain way. The concept has been revitalized in contemporary analytic metaphysics as a way to capture the asymmetric, irreflexive structure of ontological dependence without reducing it to modal or causal notions. Grounding is the backbone of metaphysical explanation: to explain why something is the case is to identify its grounds.

The formal study of grounding draws on logic and graph theory, treating grounding as a strict partial order that structures the layers of reality from the fundamental to the derivative. Critics argue that grounding is too vague to be theoretically useful, or that it merely rebrands familiar relations like causation and supervenience. Proponents counter that no existing relation captures the specific asymmetry of metaphysical determination, and that grounding is indispensable for understanding how reality is organized.