 Let us say, following common usage, that a fact partially grounds another fact if the former fully grounds, or only helps to ground, the latter. Granted that partial grounding is a strict partial order (i.e. a transitive and irreflexive relation), the negation of metaphysical foundationalism entails the existence of infinitely descending chains of partial grounds (a series \(F_1\), \(F_2\), \(F_3\), … where \(F_1\) is partially grounded in \(F_2\), \(F_2\) in \(F_3\), …). The converse entailment, of course, also fails: foundationalism is compatible with the existence of such chains.