Satisfaction is not absolute
Abstract
We prove that the satisfaction relation of first-order logic is not absolute between models of set theory having the structure and the formulas all in common. Two models of set theory can have the same natural numbers, for example, and the same standard model of arithmetic , yet disagree on their theories of arithmetic truth; two models of set theory can have the same natural numbers and the same arithmetic truths, yet disagree on their truths-about-truth, at any desired level of the iterated truth-predicate hierarchy; two models of set theory can have the same natural numbers and the same reals, yet disagree on projective truth; two models of set theory can have the same or the same rank-initial segment , yet disagree on which assertions are true in these structures. On the basis of these mathematical results, we argue that a philosophical commitment to the determinateness of the theory of truth for a structure cannot be seen as a consequence solely of the determinateness of the structure in which that truth resides. The determinate nature of arithmetic truth, for example, is not a consequence of the determinate nature of the arithmetic structure itself, but rather, we argue, is an additional higher-order commitment requiring its own analysis and justification.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1312.0670,
title = {Satisfaction is not absolute},
author = {Joel David Hamkins and Ruizhi Yang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.0670},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
37 pages. Commentary concerning this article can be made at http://jdh.hamkins.org/satisfaction-is-not-absolute. Revision corrects some minor errors, and expands the philosophical conclusions in the final section