Philosophy
Ontological Grounding
Quick fact
Grounding is a distinctively metaphysical relation that is often contrasted with causation: while causation links events across time, grounding links facts or entities at a single moment, explaining why something exists or is the way it is in terms of something more fundamental.
Why this is interesting
You know that a statue is made of clay, but is it just the clay? Or does the statue depend on the clay in a way that the clay doesn't depend on the statue? Ontological grounding is the tool philosophers use to answer such questions.