On the hierarchy of natural theories
Logic
2026-03-04 v3
Abstract
It is a well-known empirical phenomenon that natural axiomatic theories are pre-well-ordered by consistency strength. Without a precise mathematical definition of "natural," it is unclear how to study this phenomenon mathematically. We will discuss the significance of this problem and survey some strategies that have recently been developed for addressing it. These strategies emphasize the role of reflection principles and ordinal analysis and draw on analogies with research in recursion theory. We will conclude with a discussion of open problems and directions for future research.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2106.05794,
title = {On the hierarchy of natural theories},
author = {James Walsh},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2106.05794},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
Some typos are corrected. Some discussion is excised or compressed