English

Satisfaction is not absolute

Logic 2025-08-05 v2

Abstract

We prove that the satisfaction relation Nφ[a]\mathcal{N}\models\varphi[\vec a] of first-order logic is not absolute between models of set theory having the structure N\mathcal{N} and the formulas φ\varphi all in common. Two models of set theory can have the same natural numbers, for example, and the same standard model of arithmetic N,+,,0,1,<\langle\mathbb{N},{+},{\cdot},0,1,{\lt}\rangle, 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 Hω2,\langle H_{\omega_2},{\in}\rangle or the same rank-initial segment Vδ,\langle V_\delta,{\in}\rangle, 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 N={0,1,2,}\mathbb{N}=\{0,1,2,\ldots\} 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

R2 v1 2026-06-22T02:19:25.594Z