Is the Macro Grounded in the Micro?

The article critically examines priority micro pluralism, the metaphysical view that microscopic particles are fundamental and that macroscopic facts, such as the shape of ordinary objects, are grounded solely in microscopic facts. It challenges this view by analyzing the case of a tennis ball's spherical shape, arguing that plausible grounding relations between microscopic constituents and macroscopic properties fail due to issues like the possibility of constituent replacement and explanatory irrelevance. The author explores and ultimately rejects various pluralist strategies, including those based on the material origins of objects and their microscopic composition over time, concluding that priority micro pluralism struggles to provide a satisfactory grounding for even straightforward macroscopic facts. This difficulty suggests that alternative metaphysical frameworks, such as priority monism or Aristotelian views of fundamentality, merit reconsideration.