3,464 research outputs found
CZF does not have the Existence Property
Constructive theories usually have interesting metamathematical properties
where explicit witnesses can be extracted from proofs of existential sentences.
For relational theories, probably the most natural of these is the existence
property, EP, sometimes referred to as the set existence property. This states
that whenever (\exists x)\phi(x) is provable, there is a formula \chi(x) such
that (\exists ! x)\phi(x) \wedge \chi(x) is provable. It has been known since
the 80's that EP holds for some intuitionistic set theories and yet fails for
IZF. Despite this, it has remained open until now whether EP holds for the most
well known constructive set theory, CZF. In this paper we show that EP fails
for CZF
Intuitionistic fixed point theories over Heyting arithmetic
In this paper we show that an intuitionistic theory for fixed points is
conservative over the Heyting arithmetic with respect to a certain class of
formulas. This extends partly the result of mine. The proof is inspired by the
quick cut-elimination due to G. Mints
Lewis meets Brouwer: constructive strict implication
C. I. Lewis invented modern modal logic as a theory of "strict implication".
Over the classical propositional calculus one can as well work with the unary
box connective. Intuitionistically, however, the strict implication has greater
expressive power than the box and allows to make distinctions invisible in the
ordinary syntax. In particular, the logic determined by the most popular
semantics of intuitionistic K becomes a proper extension of the minimal normal
logic of the binary connective. Even an extension of this minimal logic with
the "strength" axiom, classically near-trivial, preserves the distinction
between the binary and the unary setting. In fact, this distinction and the
strong constructive strict implication itself has been also discovered by the
functional programming community in their study of "arrows" as contrasted with
"idioms". Our particular focus is on arithmetical interpretations of the
intuitionistic strict implication in terms of preservativity in extensions of
Heyting's Arithmetic.Comment: Our invited contribution to the collection "L.E.J. Brouwer, 50 years
later
Buying Logical Principles with Ontological Coin: The Metaphysical Lessons of Adding epsilon to Intuitionistic Logic
We discuss the philosophical implications of formal results showing the con-
sequences of adding the epsilon operator to intuitionistic predicate logic. These
results are related to Diaconescu’s theorem, a result originating in topos theory
that, translated to constructive set theory, says that the axiom of choice (an
“existence principle”) implies the law of excluded middle (which purports to be
a logical principle). As a logical choice principle, epsilon allows us to translate
that result to a logical setting, where one can get an analogue of Diaconescu’s
result, but also can disentangle the roles of certain other assumptions that are
hidden in mathematical presentations. It is our view that these results have not
received the attention they deserve: logicians are unlikely to read a discussion
because the results considered are “already well known,” while the results are
simultaneously unknown to philosophers who do not specialize in what most
philosophers will regard as esoteric logics. This is a problem, since these results
have important implications for and promise signif i cant illumination of contem-
porary debates in metaphysics. The point of this paper is to make the nature
of the results clear in a way accessible to philosophers who do not specialize in
logic, and in a way that makes clear their implications for contemporary philo-
sophical discussions. To make the latter point, we will focus on Dummettian discussions of realism and anti-realism.
Keywords: epsilon, axiom of choice, metaphysics, intuitionistic logic, Dummett,
realism, antirealis
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