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Single Idea 15006

[filed under theme 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 1. Grounding / a. Nature of grounding ]

Full Idea

When p 'grounds' q then q holds in virtue of p's holding; q's holding is nothing beyond p's holding; the truth of p explains the truth of q in a particularly tight sense (explanation of q by p in this sense requires that p necessitates q).

Gist of Idea

Something is grounded when it holds, and is explained, and necessitated by something else

Source

report of Kit Fine (The Question of Realism [2001], 15-16) by Theodore Sider - Writing the Book of the World 08.1

Book Ref

Sider,Theodore: 'Writing the Book of the World' [OUP 2011], p.142

A Reaction

This proposal has become a hot topic in current metaphysics, as attempts are made to employ 'grounding' in various logical, epistemological and ontological contexts. I'm a fan - it is at the heart of metaphysics as structure of reality.

Related Idea

Idea 15007 If you make 'grounding' fundamental, you have to mention some non-fundamental notions [Sider on Fine,K]

The 25 ideas with the same theme [how we should understand the grounding relation]:

17186 Men say they prefer order, not realising that we imagine the order [Spinoza]
21765 The ground of a thing is not another thing, but the first thing's substance or rational concept [Hegel, by Houlgate]
23855 Creation produced a network or web of determinations [Weil]
17272 2+2=4 is necessary if it is snowing, but not true in virtue of the fact that it is snowing [Fine,K]
17276 If you say one thing causes another, that leaves open that the 'other' has its own distinct reality [Fine,K]
17284 An immediate ground is the next lower level, which gives the concept of a hierarchy [Fine,K]
17285 'Strict' ground moves down the explanations, but 'weak' ground can move sideways [Fine,K]
17288 We learn grounding from what is grounded, not what does the grounding [Fine,K]
15007 If you make 'grounding' fundamental, you have to mention some non-fundamental notions [Sider on Fine,K]
15006 Something is grounded when it holds, and is explained, and necessitated by something else [Fine,K, by Sider]
14262 Formal grounding needs transitivity of grounding, no self-grounding, and the existence of both parties [Fine,K]
14097 Things could be true 'in virtue of' others as relations between truths, or between truths and items [Rosen]
18471 Different types of 'grounding' seem to have no more than a family resemblance relation [MacBride]
18472 Which has priority - 'grounding' or 'truth-making'? [MacBride]
17304 As causation links across time, grounding links the world across levels [Schaffer,J]
17306 If ground is transitive and irreflexive, it has a strict partial ordering, giving structure [Schaffer,J]
13748 Grounding is unanalysable and primitive, and is the basic structuring concept in metaphysics [Schaffer,J]
16598 Priority was a major topic of dispute for scholastics [Pasnau]
17292 Avoid 'in virtue of' for grounding, since it might imply a reflexive relation such as identity [Audi,P]
17295 Ground relations depend on the properties [Audi,P]
17297 A ball's being spherical non-causally determines its power to roll [Audi,P]
17302 Ground is irreflexive, asymmetric, transitive, non-monotonic etc. [Audi,P]
17303 The best critique of grounding says it is actually either identity or elimination [Audi,P]
17270 Is existential dependence by grounding, or do grounding claims arise from existential dependence? [Correia/Schnieder]
23008 Grounding is intended as a relation that fits dependences between things [Baron/Miller]