From: Marshall on
On May 29, 1:22 pm, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
> William Hughes wrote:
>
> > At the end of the day your claim is that,
> > using Tarski's defintion of truth,
> > all formula are false in a model with empty universe
>
> > Then
>
> >       There does not exist an x such that blue(x)
>
> > must be considered false.
>
> Are you saying that
>
> "There does not exist an x such that blue(x)"
>
> is a FOL formula of L(T4)? (I wouldn't think so).

Lookit him dodge, folks! He's a blur I tell you.


Marshall
From: William Hughes on
On May 29, 5:22 pm, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
> William Hughes wrote:
> > On May 29, 4:03 pm, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
> >> William Hughes wrote:
> >>> On May 29, 2:55 pm, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
> >>>> But when U = {}, there's no flexibility at all
> >>> So your claim is that
> >>>      There does not exist an x such that blue(x)
> >>> must be false?  You can refer to as many mappings
> >>> and definitions of "truth" as you want.  At the end
> >>> of the day if all formula are false in a model with
> >>> empty universe, then
> >>>      There does not exist an x such that blue(x)
> >>> must be considered false.
> >> It must have been the case you either didn't read or wasn't
> >> paying attention or wasn't able to understand what I said
> >> about the truth preemptive characteristics of the meta statement
> >> B in the post.
>
> >> It doesn't matter what I "want" here: that's Tarski's definition
>
> > Ok, rephrase.
>
> > At the end of the day your claim is that,
> > using Tarski's defintion of truth,
> > all formula are false in a model with empty universe
>
> > Then
>
> >       There does not exist an x such that blue(x)
>
> > must be considered false.
>
> Are you saying that
>
> "There does not exist an x such that blue(x)"
>
> is a FOL formula of L(T4)?


Yes. Are you claiming it is not.

- William Hughes
From: Nam Nguyen on
Marshall wrote:
> On May 29, 1:23 pm, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
>> Marshall wrote:
>>> On May 29, 10:58 am, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
>>>> Marshall wrote:
>>>>> On May 29, 10:32 am, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
>>>>>> Note my "the only way" in the question. If FOL, by the technicalities
>>>>>> vested in all of its layers, doesn't insist that that's the only way,
>>>>>> then technically other ways are equally possible
>>>>> Yes, but:
>>>>>> and Marshall's counter
>>>>>> stipulation that x=x is true in all contexts of FOL is incorrect in one
>>>>>> of those possible ways
>>>>> doesn't follow. FOL puts *some* restrictions on what the
>>>>> mapping can be. One such restriction is that x=x must
>>>>> be true in all contexts.
>>>> And I've refuted this in the same post, via the truth of some
>>>> meta statements A and B.
>>> No you didn't.
>> And your _technical reasons_ for saying that is ...?
>
> My technical reason for saying that you didn't refute
> that x=x is true in all FOL contexts is that you didn't.

If that's what you call "technical reason" then let me borrow
what AK said before and say it _to you_:

> thank you for the helpful reminder that it's useless to attempt to
> discuss logic with some people.

>
> Have you figured out yet that you are wrong about
> vacuous truth yet? You dropped the ball on that
> subthread.

Don't bet on it. Just reopen subthread and I'm sure you'd be shown
again there's nothing there that I was wrong that's worth mentioning.
Then again, the way you understand what technical reason would mean,
perhaps don't bother. I'm a bit tired of your "technical reasons",
to be frank.

From: Nam Nguyen on
William Hughes wrote:
> On May 29, 5:22 pm, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
>> William Hughes wrote:
>>> On May 29, 4:03 pm, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
>>>> William Hughes wrote:
>>>>> On May 29, 2:55 pm, Nam Nguyen <namducngu...(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
>>>>>> But when U = {}, there's no flexibility at all
>>>>> So your claim is that
>>>>> There does not exist an x such that blue(x)
>>>>> must be false? You can refer to as many mappings
>>>>> and definitions of "truth" as you want. At the end
>>>>> of the day if all formula are false in a model with
>>>>> empty universe, then
>>>>> There does not exist an x such that blue(x)
>>>>> must be considered false.
>>>> It must have been the case you either didn't read or wasn't
>>>> paying attention or wasn't able to understand what I said
>>>> about the truth preemptive characteristics of the meta statement
>>>> B in the post.
>>>> It doesn't matter what I "want" here: that's Tarski's definition
>>> Ok, rephrase.
>>> At the end of the day your claim is that,
>>> using Tarski's defintion of truth,
>>> all formula are false in a model with empty universe
>>> Then
>>> There does not exist an x such that blue(x)
>>> must be considered false.
>> Are you saying that
>>
>> "There does not exist an x such that blue(x)"
>>
>> is a FOL formula of L(T4)?
>
>
> Yes. Are you claiming it is not.

Oh. My mistake. You're right, it is: ~Ex[blue(x]). But that's a
just FOL and therefore is false in the structure in which U = {},
due to B is false, correct?


>
> - William Hughes
From: Alan Smaill on
Nam Nguyen <namducnguyen(a)shaw.ca> writes:

> Alan Smaill wrote:
>> Nam Nguyen <namducnguyen(a)shaw.ca> writes:
>>
>>> Alan Smaill wrote:
>>>> Nam Nguyen <namducnguyen(a)shaw.ca> writes:
>>>>
>>>>> Alan Smaill wrote:
>>>>>> Fine, take U = {0,1,2}, and take everything else as above.
>>>>> Well, so far you've only spelled out U (and in effect <'A',U>).
>>>>> You've not spelled out the mapping (ordered pair) <'blue',p_blue>
>>>>> where p_blue is an actual _set_. Iow, if R is p_blue, can you
>>>>> spell out the predicate-set R?
>>>> The set is the extension of the relation R:
>>>>
>>>> { x in U | R(x) } = {1}
>>> Now then, let's extend the language L(t4) to L(T4b) so it
>>> has another 1-ary symbol 'non-blue', and extend T4 into
>>> T4b so it has another axiom: non-blue(c1) <-> ~blue(c1).
>>>
>>> Can we keep the model M4 for T4b? If not what can we keep,
>>> and what should we add?
>>
>> You need to say what the meaning of the new predicate is.
>
> What would you think "non-blue" usually mean?

It's your predicate, I wouldn't introduce it myself.
If you want to express the property of "not being blue" when
you already have a predicate blue, then why not use the
negation of FOL?

>> This can be done by extending the old structure, eg by takinh
>> extension of not-blue as { x in U | not R(x) } = {0,2},
>> which then provides a different structure which is a model for T4b.
>
> Right. But to be precise M4b now would have <'non-blue',C({1})>
> where C({1}) is the complemantary set of {1} (in U), which is
> {0,2}. The point is, Alan, the 1-ary predicate {0,2} is a common
> part of _both_ M4 and M4b, serving the same purpose: to interpret
> ~blue(c1) - or any equivalent formula - as true. Iow, difference
> on this between M4 and M4b is just the _name_ of first component
> of <x,{0,2}>: which name x should have? You could choose a "foreign"
> name by extending the language, or a "domestic" using FOL symbol
> redefinition, or in my case a variance of redefinition: an "intrinsic"
> name such as "the-complementary-set-in-U-of-the-predicate-symbolized-
> by-'blue'", which in this case I use an short alias '~blue'.
>
> And everything would still conform with the definition of structure
> (model).

I have no idea where this is taking us, but, yes, you can extend
the initial structure in this way to get a model in the extended
syntax with your extra axiom.

>>>> Are you claiming that your notion of model is equivalent to
>>>> Shoenfield's?
>>> Of course I do.
>>
>> It was not clear to me if you thing you are correcting Shoenfield,
>> or following him. Several of your claims are just not consistent with
>> what he wrote, as others have pointed out.
>
> Who are they, and _exactly_ what did they point out, in relation to
> my following structure definition as described by Shoenfield? Did
> they _exactly refute_ what I've said here? Have I countered those
> refutes? It's hard to know what you're referring to if you're precise.

Let's see where your present line is leading you.

>>> And I'm still in the process of doing the explanation
>>> so I hope you don't mind answering the new question above.
>>>
>>>>>> Do you agree that it follows from his definition that a constant
>>>>>> is interpreted as an element of the domain,
>>>>> Suppose you have a theory T5 = {Ax[~(x=e)]}, which element of your
>>>>> "domain" U (whatever U might be) would get interpreted as e?
>>>> Could be any object in U.
>>>> But whatever it is, the structure is not a model for
>>>> T5, i.e. it will not satisfy the statement Ax[~(x=e)].
>>>> Just follow Tarski's definition.
>>> Not a true model of course. But there's a false model for it.
>>
>> "false model" is confusing terminology.
>
> Is "a model in which the universe U is empty" very confusing to
> you?

Is that what you mean by false model?
If so, why not use that terminology?

Since you claim to be following Shoenfield, then here is a place where
you clearly diverge: he says:

"Let L be a first-order language. A _structure_ *A* for L consists of
the following things:

(i) A nonempty set |*A*|, called the _universe_ of *A*. The
elements of |*A*| are called the _individuals_ of *A*."

So that his structure is *non-empty*.
Since for him, a model is a structure with extra properties,
it follows that for him there are *no* models with empty
universe.

>> If you mean a structure where every predicate has empty extension
>> (is false everywhere), then something like "everywhere-false structure"
>> makes more sense.
>
> I only meant every predicate is an empty set, which is a simple fact,
> given U = {}. And if a predicate of an empty U is empty, the so is
> its _complementary predicate_ which means all formulas would be
> interpreted as false in such (degenerated) structure!

As others have pointed out, Shoenfield's and Tarski's definition
for the truth of a negated sentence flat out disagrees with you here.

p 19:

" If A is ~ B [negation of B, my comment], theh *A*(A) is
H_~(*A*(B))"

where H_~ is the truth function for negation.

Since you follow Shoenfield, then consider what happens when
you take a structure S with empty universe, and a statement
like "some x blue(x)": that will be false in S, right?
So what will the truth value of "~ some x blue(x)" be in S,
using the definition above?

>> There is then a separate question as to whether
>> such a structure is a model of a given T or not, in Shoenfield's sense.
>>
>> p 22:
>>
>> "By a *model* of a theory T, we mean a structure for L(T) in which
>> all the non-logical axioms of T are *valid*."
>
> Sure. that's what he said. But would there be any reasonable cause
> to believe it's not the case that by "mode" there he only meant T be
> assumed consistent hence "model" would refer to a non-degenerated
> structure?

No, what reasonable case would that be??

After all, he proves the completeness theorem for 1st-order logic:

(2nd form, p 43):

"A theory T is consistent iff it has a model."

So, he is saying explicitly that if T is not consistent,
then it does *not* have a model. (The "iff" is "if and only if"
here, so that the implication goes both ways.)

>>> _Everything is n-ary_ in his treatment: including 0-ary (constant)
>>> symbol, 0-tuple, 0-ary function value for a constant itself.
>>
>> Fine.
>>
>>> So if an
>>> _n-ary predicate is a set of n-tuples_, then the predicate is always
>>> a set (even if it's empty)!. So the 2nd component _is a set_ in all
>>> cases.
>>
>> I was not asking about predicates, but about constants (0-ary function
>> symbols).
>
> Right.
>
>>
>> From p 18 of my copy:
>>
>> "Let L be a first-order language. A _structure_ *A* for L consists of
>> the following things:
>>
>> (i) A nonempty set |*A*|, called the _universe_ of *A*. The
>> elements of |*A*| are called the _individuals_ of *A*.
>>
>> (ii) For each n-ary function symbol f of L, an n-ary function f_a
>> from |*A*| to |*A*|. (In particular, for each constant e of L, e_a
>> is an individual of *A*.)
>>
>> (iii) For each n-ary predicate symbol p of L ..... "
>>
>> So, the meaning of a constant is an _individual_ of *A*, ie a _member_ of
>> the universe. In particular, you cannot have the meaning of a constant
>> as the empty set (unless the empty set itself is a member of the universe).
>
> If you reflect on pg. 10 where he said about "predicate", "0-tuple",
> "0-ary function" and the like you'd see that in the degenerated case of
> U = {}, and _only_ in that case, all predicates and individuals would be
> defined as the empty set.

Why on earth would Shoenfield say:

"In particular, for each constant e of L, e_a is an individual of
*A*."

if he meant that individuals could denote the empty set???

Someone *can* come along and propose a different notion of model
from Tarski/Shoenfield. Clearly Shoenfield himself had ruled out empty
universes, and clearly also he insists that constants correspond to
elements of the universe. If you want a different notion,
then just be clear that you *are* proposing something different
(and then it can be asked what advantages there might be).

> It'd would also help if you notice that for a non-empty U, an n-ary
> predicate is always of a different type than that of an (n+1)-ary
> predicate. In fact, the 2 predicates can't even be equal, given that
> the individuals in U are treated here as "urelements". But why they,
> including the 0-ary function value for an individual constant symbol,
> all in a sudden become equal here?
>
> Because that's the nature of the empty set {}, and because that's what
> we mean in the meta level by the word "degenerated".
>
> Hope this has helped you to understand the essence of Shoendfield's
> wording on the definition of structure, model of a language, which
> would be used for theories in general, including the degenerated theory,
> for each language.

That's not *his* usage at all. And it leads to contradictions with
basic principles, like Tarski's recursive definition
of truth, and important claims, such as the completeness theorem.

--
Alan Smaill