Ontology

=== Ontological dependence ===

{{main|Grounding (metaphysics)}}

An entity ''ontologically depends'' on another entity if the first entity cannot exist without the second entity. Ontologically independent entities, on the other hand, can exist all by themselves.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sandkühler |first=Hans Jörg |url=https://meiner.de/enzyklopadie-philosophie.html |title=Enzyklopädie Philosophie |date=2010 |publisher=Meiner |language=de |section=Ontologie: 4.2.3 Ontologische Unabhängigkeit. Ganz grob gesagt versteht man unter existenzieller oder ontologischer (im Gegensatz z.B. zu logischer) Unabhängigkeit die Fähigkeit, ›alleine zu existieren‹. |access-date=2020-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210311040207/https://meiner.de/enzyklopadie-philosophie.html |archive-date=2021-03-11 |url-status=dead}}</ref> For example, the surface of an apple cannot exist without the apple and so depends on it ontologically.<ref>{{cite web |last=Varzi |first=Achille |title=Boundary |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/boundary/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=4 January 2021 |date=2015}}</ref> Entities often characterized as ontologically dependent include properties, which depend on their bearers, and boundaries, which depend on the entity they demarcate from its surroundings.<ref name="Tahko">{{cite web |last1=Tahko |first1=Tuomas E. |last2=Lowe |first2=E. Jonathan |title=Ontological Dependence |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dependence-ontological/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=4 January 2021 |date=2020}}</ref> As these examples suggest, ontological dependence is to be distinguished from causal dependence, in which an effect depends for its existence on a cause. It is often important to draw a distinction between two types of ontological dependence: rigid and generic.<ref name="Sandkühler2"/><ref name="Tahko"/> Rigid dependence concerns the dependence on one specific entity, as the surface of an apple depends on its specific apple.<ref name="Erices">{{cite journal |last=Erices |first=Gonzalo Nuñez |title=Boundaries and Things. A Metaphysical Study of the Brentano-Chisholm Theory |journal=Kriterion: Journal of Philosophy |date=2019 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=15–48 |doi=10.1515/krt-2019-330203 |s2cid=245494576 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/ERIBAT|doi-access=free }}</ref> Generic dependence, by contrast, involves a weaker form of dependence, on merely a certain type of entity. For example, electricity generically depends on there being charged particles, but it does not depend on any specific charged particle.<ref name="Tahko"/> Dependence-relations are relevant to ontology since it is often held that ontologically dependent entities have a less robust form of being. This way a ''hierarchy'' is introduced into the world that brings with it the distinction between more and less fundamental entities.<ref name="Tahko"/>
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