All Questions
7 questions
68
votes
4
answers
12k
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Nelson's program to show inconsistency of ZF
At the end of the paper Division by three by Peter G. Doyle and John H. Conway, the authors say:
Not that we believe there really are any such things as infinite sets, or that the Zermelo-Fraenkel ...
- 25.5k
32
votes
11
answers
11k
views
Is PA consistent? do we know it?
1) (By Goedel's) One can not prove, in PA, a formula that can be interpreted to express the consistency of PA. (Hopefully I said it right. Specialists correct me, please).
2) There are proofs (...
15
votes
5
answers
2k
views
In what sense does the sentence $\operatorname{con}(\mathsf{PA})$ "say" that $\mathsf{PA}$ is consistent?
It seems common amongst logicians to think of "truth" as being relative to a particular structure. Consider, for instance, the first-order theory of groups. The sentence $\forall x\forall y(...
- 961
7
votes
1
answer
489
views
Is $ACA_0$ + 'True Arithmetic exists' interpretable in $ACA$?
Maybe someone here can help me with a question concerning second-order arithmetic. Consider the system $ACA_T := ACA_0 + \exists X \forall x (x \in X \leftrightarrow T(x))$, where $T(x)$ is a $\Pi_1^1$...
- 71
2
votes
1
answer
459
views
Is the statement "All numbers are counting numbers" independent of $PA$?
In his paper, "Completed versus Incomplete Infinity in Arithmetic" (which can be found here), the late Edward Nelson defines the notion of 'counting number' as follows:
0 is a counting ...
- 6,132
1
vote
1
answer
629
views
In what sense is the "descending chain principle" for ordinals less than $\epsilon_0$ 'infinitary?
In the introduction to his paper "Assignment of Ordinals to Terms for Primitive Recursive Functionals of Finite Type", W.A. Howard writes:
Gentzen...showed that the consistency of first order (...
- 6,132
0
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Regarding Gentzen's note regarding 'Godel-points' (i.e., "Where is the Godel-point hiding?")
Consider the following note written by Gerhard Gentzen in early 1932, on the onset of his work on a consistency proof for arithmetic:
The axioms of arithmetic are obviously correct, and the ...
- 6,132