English

Uniformity of Consistency in Arithmetic and G\"odel's Second Incompleteness Theorem: Ein M\"archen

Logic 2026-05-06 v2

Abstract

In much discussed work Artemov has recently shown that, for PA\mathrm{PA}, the consistency schema admits a form of uniform verification via selector proofs, despite the unprovability of the corresponding uniform consistency sentence Con(PA)\mathrm{Con}(\mathrm{PA}). In this note, we recast that this phenomenon extends to all sufficiently strong arithmetizable theories: For such theories TT, there exists a primitive recursive selector producing proofs of all instances of the associated consistency schema. This results -- a soft version of a classical result of Pudl\'ak -- yields a form of computational uniformity, despite the fact that it cannot be internalized as the uniform consistency sentence of G\"odel's Second Incompleteness Theorem. Our main goal is to analyze this gap and to locate selector proofs within the broader framework of provability and reflection.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.00266,
  title  = {Uniformity of Consistency in Arithmetic and G\"odel's Second Incompleteness Theorem: Ein M\"archen},
  author = {Harald Grobner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.00266},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Incorporated the important reference to the work of Pudl\'ak