Metaphysical Grounding: Understanding The Structure Of Reality

Some of the most eminent and enduring philosophical questions concern matters of priority: what is prior to what? What 'grounds' what? Is, for instance, matter prior to mind? Recently, a vivid debate has arisen about how such questions have to be understood. Can the relevant notion or notions of priority be spelled out? And how do they relate to other metaphysical notions, such as modality, truth-making or essence? This volume of new essays, by leading figures in contemporary metaphysics, is the first to address and investigate the metaphysical idea that certain facts are grounded in other facts. An introduction introduces and surveys the debate, examining its history as well as its central systematic aspects. The volume will be of wide interest to students and scholars of metaphysics.

Fabrice Correia is Associate Professor at the Philosophy Department of the University of Geneva. He is the author of Existential Dependence and Cognate Notions (2005) and As Time Goes By: Eternal Facts in an Ageing Universe (with Sven Rosenkranz, 2011).

Benjamin Schnieder is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hamburg. He is the author of Substanzen und (ihre) Eigenschaften (2004) and Substanz und Adhärenz: Bolzanos Ontologie des Wirklichen (2002).