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Contextual-Hierarchical Reconstructions of the Strengthened Liar Problem

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Abstract

In this paper we shall introduce two types of contextual-hierarchical (from now on abbreviated by ‘ch’) approaches to the strengthened liar problem. These approaches, which we call the ‘standard’ and the ‘alternative’ ch-reconstructions of the strengthened liar problem, differ in their philosophical view regarding the nature of truth and the relation between the truth predicates T r n and T r n+1 of different hierarchy-levels. The basic idea of the standard ch-reconstruction is that the T r n+1-schema should hold for all sentences of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\). In contrast, the alternative ch-reconstruction, for which we shall argue in section four, is motivated by the idea that T r n and T r n+1 are coherent in the sense that the same sentences of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\) should be true according to T r n and T r n+1. We show that instances of the standard ch-reconstruction can be obtained by iterating Kripke’s strong Kleene jump operator. Furthermore, we will demonstrate how instances of the alternative ch-reconstruction can be obtained by a slight modification of the iterated axiom system KF and of the iterated strong Kleene jump operator.

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Notes

  1. This is why the terms ‘liar problem’ (‘liar paradox’) and ‘strengthened liar problem’ (‘strengthened liar paradox’) are sometimes used synonymously (cf. Michael Glanzberg [6], p. 3, footnote 1). We will maintain the distinctive terminology in this paper.

  2. Examples for ch-approaches are Barwise and Etchemendy [1], Burge [2], Glanzberg [6], Koons [9], Parsons [13], and Simmons [15].

  3. For any details of this second requirement, cf. McGee [12], chapter 1.

  4. If there is any coding function c 0 for \(\mathcal {L}^{0}\), it is possible to rearrange c 0 in such a way that any enumerable number of objects in D are not metalanguage codes of an expression of \(\mathcal {L}^{0}\). In this sense, the existence of such a recursively enumerable subset D 0 of D is a rather weak assumption.

  5. I would like to thank an anonymous referee for making me aware of a mistake in an earlier version of this article. I have corrected the mistaken assumption by presuming L .

  6. We could define the notion of ‘expressing a semantic property’ by stipulating that a one-place formula S(x) expresses a semantic property iff it is defined or explicated via the inverse function of c 1. The inverse function of c 1 “de-codes” the terms of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\), i.e. it maps them back to the corresponding sentences of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\).

  7. In this paper, we shall not consider the variant of representing ‘is true’ by a two-place predicate.

  8. In fact, Field represents the notion of ‘determinate truth’ by an operator, while the notion of ‘truth’ is represented by a one-place predicate. However, it is Field’s operator of determinate truth that is essential for the strengthened liar problem.

  9. Our notion of a ‘solution to the strengthened liar problem’ is minimal since first, we require of just one simple truth-diagnosis \(S(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\) that all T r 2-reflections of it must be true in \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\) and secondly, we require that just the T r 2-reflections of \(S(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\), but not any other “semantic meta-diagnoses” about \(S(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\), must be true in \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\).

  10. The simple diagnosis \(Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\) is no viable option since assuming \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\) immediately leads to a contradiction by applying the following co-necessitation-rule for T r 1, which holds for usual theories of truth: for each φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\), if \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\), then \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash \varphi \).

  11. The notion of an “iterated T r n-diagnosis” is defined in Section 4 (cf. Definition 4.2).

  12. The notion of the “type of an iterated T r n-diagnosis” is defined in Section 4 (cf. Definition 4.2).

  13. By \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) for all φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\backslash \mathcal {L}^{0}\), we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\). Moreover, since the T r 2-schema applies to all sentences of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\), we have \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\).

  14. These approaches consider a liar sentence λ with \(\mathcal {M}\vDash \lambda \leftrightarrow \neg \exists x(Proposition(x)\wedge Expresses(x,\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\wedge Tr(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner ))\) (cf. e.g. Glanzberg [6], p. 7, paragraph 4).

  15. Later works, e.g. Hannes Leitgeb [11] and Albert Visser ([16] or [17]), have established interesting structural properties of the collection of fixed points of \(\kappa _{\mathcal {M}^{0}}\).

  16. Proof: It is well-known that \(Val_{\mathcal {M}_{p}^{1}}(\lambda )=n\) and for each semantic diagnosis φ about λ in \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\), \(Val_{\mathcal {M}_{p}^{1}}(\varphi )=n\). Since the least fixed point \((E_{\mathcal {M}^{1}}^{lf},A_{\mathcal {M}^{1}}^{lf})\) is assigned to T r 2, \(E_{\mathcal {M}^{1}}^{lf}\) and \(A_{\mathcal {M}^{1}}^{lf}\) will contain no (code of a) sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\) with \(Val_{\mathcal {M}_{p}^{1}}(\varphi )=n\). So also for each semantic diagnosis about λ in \(\mathcal {L}^{2}\), we obtain \(\vspace *{-.5pt}Val_{\mathcal {M}_{p}^{1}}(\varphi )=n\), in other words, each semantic diagnosis about λ in \(\mathcal {L}^{2}\), is neither true, nor false in \(\mathcal {M}_{p}^{2}\).

  17. Again, Theorem 4.2 and lemma 4.3 ensure the existence of such a least fixed point.

  18. (E, A) ⊆ (E , A ) iff EE and AA .

References

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Acknowledgments

Preparatory material of this paper can be found in my PhD-thesis (cf. Christine Schurz [14]). This paper is however a substantial extension of what has been done there. I would like to thank Hans Czermak, Alexander Hieke, Reinhard Kleinknecht and Hannes Leitgeb for their help and support, as well as two anonymous referees for their valuable comments.

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Correspondence to Christine Schurz.

Appendix :

Appendix :

Proof of lemma 3.2

By Lemma 3.1, \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\). Since \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\) is an expansion of \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\), we have \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\). In addition, we have \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \varphi \) for any sentence φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\), which follows from the definition of \(E_{\mathcal {M}^{1}}^{lf}\). From this, together with \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\), we can derive \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda \urcorner )\urcorner )\)

Proof of lemma 3.3

Let E be the extension of any fixed point (E,A) of \(\kappa _{\mathcal {M}^{n}}\). Then:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff

  • c n+1(φ)∈E iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi )=t\) (since E={c n+1(φ)∈D:c n+1(φ)∈L n+1 and \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi )=t\}\)) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi )=t\) (since φ and ψ are \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\)-logically equivalent) iff

  • c n+1(ψ)∈E iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\)

Proof of lemma 3.4

By lemma 3.1, \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\). By Lemma 3.2 and substitution of \(\mathcal {M}^{0}\)-logical equivalents in T r 2, which follows from Lemma 3.3, we have \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\). We obtain the first claim of Lemma 3.4 analogously.

In the proof of lemma 3.2 we have already demonstrated that \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}\left (\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner \right )\leftrightarrow \varphi \) for all sentences φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\). By the same argument schema, we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \varphi \) for all sentences φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\) and for n=0 and m=1, and for each n,m with 1<n<m

Proof of lemma 4.1

From Section 3 we have \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\). Since \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\) is a {T r 2}-expansion of \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\), \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\). From \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{2}\) it follows that \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) for all φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\) (see axiom 1 of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{2}\)). Thus we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash \neg Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\).

By \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{2}\), \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\leftrightarrow \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) for all φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\) (see axiom 3a of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{2}\)). Because of \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash \neg Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\), we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{1}\urcorner )\urcorner )\)

Proof of lemma 4.2

Claim 1 By Lemma 3.4, we have \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{0}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\rightarrow (Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \varphi )\), and therefore \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{0}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\rightarrow (Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \varphi )\). Because of \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\) for each n≥2, it follows that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) for each sentence φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{1}\), and thus \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{0}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\rightarrow (Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \varphi )\).Claim 2 The claim is proved by induction over formulas. It is enough to prove the case where φψ, as all other cases follow directly from the axioms of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{2}\). If \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash W^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\), then \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash W^{2}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\), and thus, by the induction hypothesis, \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \psi \). Therefore \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash W^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\rightarrow (\neg Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \neg \psi )\), and so it is enough to show that \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash W^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\rightarrow (Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \neg Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))\). \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash W^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\rightarrow (\neg Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\rightarrow Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner ))\) follows from the definition of W 2(x). \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash W^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\rightarrow (Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\rightarrow \neg Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))\) follows from axiom 9 of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{2}\). Thus, we have \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash W^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\rightarrow (Tr^{2}(\ulcorner \neg \psi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \neg \psi )\)

Proof of lemma 4.3

By straightforward induction over formulas □

Proof of theorem 4.2 For each n≥0, the claim is proved by induction over formulas. If n=0, the claim follows from the first part of Theorem 4.3 on p. 93 in McGee [12]. Let n>0.

Direction 1

We show that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\) implies \(\kappa ^{\prime }_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(E,A)=(E,A)\), where

(⋆):

A={c n+1(φ):c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n and c n+1φ)∈E} ∪

{c n+1(φ):c n+1(φ)∈L n and c n+1(φ)∉E} ∪

{dD:dL n+1}.

Recall that \(\kappa ^{\prime }_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(E,A):=(E^{\prime },A^{\prime })\) such that

$$\begin{array}{@{}rcl@{}}E^{\prime}=&&\{ c^{n+1}(\varphi)\in D: c^{n+1}(\varphi)\in L^{n+1}\backslash L^{n} \,\,\text{and}\,\, Val_{\mathcal{M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi)=t\}\\ &&\cup\\ &&\{ c^{n+1}(\varphi)\in D: c^{n+1}(\varphi)\in L^{n} \,\,\text{and}\,\, Val_{\mathcal{M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner\varphi\urcorner))=t\}, \end{array} $$

and

$$\begin{array}{@{}rcl@{}} A^{\prime}=&&\{c^{n+1}(\varphi)\in D: c^{n+1}(\varphi)\in L^{n+1}\backslash L^{n} \,\,\text{and}\,\, Val_{\mathcal{M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi)=f\}\\ &&\cup \end{array} $$
$$\begin{array}{@{}rcl@{}} &&\{ c^{n+1}(\varphi)\in D: c^{n+1}(\varphi)\in L^{n} \,\,\text{and}\,\, Val_{\mathcal{M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner\varphi\urcorner))\neq t\}\\ &&\cup\\ &&\{d\in D: d\notin L^{n+1}\}. \end{array} $$

We will now prove the following three propositions. For all sentences \(\varphi \in \mathcal {L}^{n+1}\):

  1. 1.

    If c n+1(φ)∈L n, then \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))= t\) iff c n+1(φ)∈E.

  2. 2.

    If c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n, then \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi )=t\) iff c n+1(φ)∈E.

  3. 3.

    If c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n, then \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi )=f\) iff \(c^{n+1}(\neg \varphi \urcorner )\in E\).

Note that if d is no metalanguage code of a sentence, then dA and dA. It can easily be checked that 1. and 3. imply A=A , and 2. and 3. imply E=E . Therefore by 1., 2. and 3, we obtain \(\kappa ^{\prime }_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(E,A)=(E,A)\).

We start with 1.

  1. ad 1.

    Let \(\varphi \in \mathcal {L}^{n}\). Then \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\) iff \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\). Furthermore, by \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), we obtain \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\) iff \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\). Finally, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\) iff c n+1(φ)∈E, and thus \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\) iff c n+1(φ)∈E.

We show 2. and 3. by simultaneous induction over formulas.

Case 1

Let φ be an atomic formula in \(\mathcal {L}^{n+1}\backslash \mathcal {L}^{n}\), i.e. \(\varphi =Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\) for some ψ. Then

  1. ad 2.

    \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))=t\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\), and \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\). Since \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\urcorner )\). Furthermore, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff \(c^{n+1}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))\in E\). Therefore, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))=t\) iff \(c^{n+1}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))\in E\).

  2. ad 3.

    \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))=f\) iff c n+1(ψ)∈A, and c n+1(ψ)∈A. By (⋆), either c n+1(ψ)∈L n+1L n and c n+1ψ)∈E, or c n+1(ψ)∈L n and c n+1(ψ)∉E.

    If c n+1(ψ)∈L n+1L n and c n+1ψ)∈E, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\neg \psi )\). By \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\neg \psi )\leftrightarrow \linebreak Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\urcorner )\). Moreover, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff \( c^{n+1}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))\in E\). Thus, if c n+1(ψ)∈L n+1L n, we obtain \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))=f\) iff \( c^{n+1}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))\in E\).

    If c n+1(ψ)∈L n and c n+1(ψ)∉E, then \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\). Since \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\) and c n+1(ψ)∈L n, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\). Furthermore, by \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\urcorner )\), and therefore, we obtain \(c^{n+1}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))\in E\). Thus, if c n+1(ψ)∈L n, we obtain \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))=f\) iff \(c^{n+1}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner ))\in E\).

Case 2

The case where φ is a negated atomic formula in \(\mathcal {L}^{n+1}\backslash \mathcal {L}^{n}\), i.e. \(\varphi =\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\), is proved analogously to Case 1 (using the strong Kleene scheme for ‘ ¬’).

Case 3

Let φ=ψ 1ψ 2 for some formulas ψ 1 and ψ 2 of \(\mathcal {L}^{n+1}\), and let our induction hypothesis be that ψ 1 and ψ 2 meet Propositions 2 and 3. Then

  1. ad 2.

    By the strong Kleene scheme for ‘ ∨’, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{1}\vee \psi _{2})=t\) iff \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{1})=t\) or \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{2})=t\). By the induction hypothesis, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{1})=t\) or \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{2})=t\) iff c n+1(ψ 1)∈E or c n+1(ψ 2)∈E. Furthermore, c n+1(ψ 1)∈E or c n+1(ψ 2)∈E iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{1}\urcorner )\) or \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{2}\urcorner )\). In addition, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{1}\urcorner )\) or \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{1}\urcorner )\vee Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{2}\urcorner )\). By \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), it follows that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{1}\urcorner )\vee Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{1}\vee \psi _{2}\urcorner )\). Moreover, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi _{1}\vee \psi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff c n+1(ψ 1ψ 2)∈E, from which we obtain \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{1}\vee \psi _{2})=t\) iff c n+1(ψ 1ψ 2)∈E.

  2. ad 3.

    By the strong Kleene scheme for ‘ ∨’, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{1}\vee \psi _{2})=f\) iff \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{1})=f\) and \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{2})=f\). By the induction hypothesis, we obtain \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{1})=f\) and \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{2})=f\) iff c n+1ψ 1)∈E and c n+1ψ 2)∈E. Moreover, we have c n+1ψ 1)∈E and c n+1ψ 2)∈E iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \psi _{1}\urcorner )\) and \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \psi _{2}\urcorner )\). Furthermore, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \psi _{1}\urcorner )\) and \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \psi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \psi _{1}\urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \psi _{2}\urcorner )\). Since \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), we have \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \psi _{1}\urcorner ) \wedge Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \psi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg (\psi _{1}\vee \psi _{2})\urcorner )\). Finally, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg (\psi _{1}\vee \psi _{2})\urcorner )\) iff c n+1(¬(ψ 1ψ 2))∈E, from which we obtain \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\psi _{1}\vee \psi _{2})=f\) iff c n+1(¬(ψ 1ψ 2))∈E.

Case 4

The case where φ=¬(ψ 1ψ 2) for some formulas ψ 1 and ψ 2 in \(\mathcal {L}^{n+1}\), is proved analogously to Case 3.

Case 5

Let φ=∀x ψ where ψ is a formula of \(\mathcal {L}^{n+1}\). For simplicity, let us assume that for each object d, there is a closed term \(\bar {d}\) which denotes d, i.e. \(I(\bar {d})=d\). Thus, we will assume a substitutional interpretation of universal quantifiers: \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x\varphi \) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash [\varphi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\) for each dD. To make the formulas more legible we shall abbreviate ‘\(sub(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ,x,y)\)’ by ‘\({\ulcorner [\varphi ]_{x}^{y}}\urcorner \)’, for each sentence φ and for each variables x and y. Let our induction hypothesis be that for each dD, \([\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\) meets Propositions 2. and 3. Then

  1. ad 2.

    \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\forall x\psi )=t\) iff for all dD, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}([\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})=t\). By the induction hypothesis, for all dD, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}([\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})=t\) iff for all \(d\in D: c^{n+1}([\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})\in E\). Furthermore, for all \(d\in D: c^{n+1}([\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})\in E\) iff for all \(d\in D, \mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\urcorner )\), and for all \(d\in D, \mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\urcorner )\) iff (\(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \psi \urcorner )\) iff) \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall z Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\psi ]_{x}^{num(z)}\urcorner )\). By \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall z Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\psi ]_{x}^{num(z)}\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}\left (\ulcorner \forall x\psi \urcorner \right )\). Finally, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \forall x\psi \urcorner )\) iff c n+1(∀x ψ)∈E.

  2. ad 3.

    \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\forall x\psi )=f\) iff there is a dD: \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}([\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})=f\). By the induction hypothesis, there is a dD: \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}([\psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})=f\) iff there is a \(d\in D: c^{n+1}([\neg \psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})\in E\). Furthermore, there is a \(d\in D: c^{n+1}([\neg \psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})\in E\) iff there is a \(d\in D, \mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\neg \psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\urcorner )\). In addition, there is a \(d\in D, \mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\neg \psi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \exists z Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\neg \psi ]_{x}^{num(z)}\urcorner )\). By \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \exists z Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\neg \psi ]_{x}^{num(z)}\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \forall x\psi \urcorner )\). Finally, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \forall x\psi \urcorner )\) iff c n+1(¬∀x ψ)∈E.

Case 6

The case where φ = ¬∀x ψ and ψ is a formula of \(\mathcal {L}^{n+1}\) is proved analogously to Case 5.

Direction 2

We show that \(\kappa ^{\prime }_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(E,A)=(E,A)\) implies \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\) by showing the following ten items:

  1. 1.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x(Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(x)\rightarrow (Tr^{n+1}(x)\leftrightarrow Tr^{n}(x)))\);

  2. 2.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x(Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(x)\rightarrow (Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner Tr^{n+1}(\dot {x})\urcorner )\leftrightarrow Tr^{n+1}(x)))\);

  3. 3a.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x(Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(x)\rightarrow (Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\dot {x})\urcorner )\leftrightarrow \neg Tr^{n}(x)))\);

  4. 3b.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x((Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(x)\wedge \neg Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(x))\rightarrow \)

    \((Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\dot {x})\urcorner )\leftrightarrow Tr^{n+1}(\) ¬̣ x)));

  5. 4.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x\forall y(Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(x\) ∨̣ y)→

    (T r n+1(x ∨̣ y)⇔(T r n+1(x)∨T r n+1(y))));

  6. 5.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x\forall y\forall z(Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\) ¬̣ (x ∨̣ y))→

    (T r n+1(¬̣ (x ∨̣ y))⇔(T r n+1(¬̣ x)∧T r n+1(¬̣ y))));

  7. 6.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x\forall y((Var_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(x)\wedge Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(y))\rightarrow \)

    (T r n+1(∃̣ x y)⇔∃z T r n+1(s u b(y,x,n u m(z)))));

  8. 7.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x\forall y((Var_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(x)\wedge Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(y))\rightarrow \)

    (T r n+1(¬̣ ∃̣ x y)⇔∀z T r n+1(¬̣ s u b(y,x,n u m(z)))));

  9. 8.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x\forall y((Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(x)\wedge \hspace {2pt} x\equiv \hspace {2pt}\) ¬̣ ¬̣ y)→

    (T r n+1(x)⇔T r n+1(y)));

  10. 9.

    \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x (Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(x)\rightarrow \neg (Tr^{n+1}(x)\wedge Tr^{n+1}(\) ¬̣ x))).

ad 1 and ad 2. Straightforward.

For any dD, assume \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(\bar {d})\). Then there is a φ such that c n+1(φ)=d and c n+1(φ)∈L n. By

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))\) iff

  • \(c^{n+1}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))\in E\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=f\) iff

  • c n+1(φ)∈A iff (since c n+1(φ)∈L n) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))\neq t\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(\neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\),

we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x(Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(x)\rightarrow (Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\dot {x})\urcorner )\leftrightarrow \neg Tr^{n}(x)))\).

For any dD, assume \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\bar {d})\wedge \neg Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(\bar {d})\). Then there is a φ such that c n+1(φ)=d and c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n. By

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\) ¬̣\(\bar {d})\) iff

  • c n+1φ)∈E iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi )=t\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi )=f\) iff (since c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n)

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=f\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))=t\) iff

  • \(c^{n+1}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))\in E\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\bar {d})\urcorner )\),

we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \forall x((Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(x)\wedge \neg Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(x))\rightarrow ((Tr^{n+1}(\) ¬̣\(x)\leftrightarrow Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\dot {x})\urcorner )))\).

Assume \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\bar {d}_{1}\) ∨̣\( \bar {d}_{2})\). Then there are two sentences of \(\mathcal {L}^{n+1}\), such that c n+1(φ 1)=d 1, c n+1(φ 2)=d 2. \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff c n+1(φ 1φ 2)∈E. From c n+1(φ 1φ 2)∈E, it follows either \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2})=t\) (in case φ 1φ 2 is no sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\)), or \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}\urcorner ))=t\) (in case φ 1φ 2 is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\)). In the first case we have

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2})=t\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi _{1})=t\) or \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi _{2})=t\) iff

  • c n+1(φ 1)∈E or c n+1(φ 2)∈E (and φ 1 or φ 2 is no sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\))) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\) or \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\vee Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\).

In the second case φ 1 and φ 2 are both sentences of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\), and we have:

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}\urcorner ))=t\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\))

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\vee Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi _{2}\urcorner ))=t\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\urcorner ))=t\) or \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi _{2}\urcorner ))=t\) iff (by the definition of E)

  • c n+1(φ 1)∈E or c n+1(φ 2)∈E iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\) or \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\vee Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\).

Therefore, we have shown that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\vee Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\), i.e. \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\bar {d}_{1}\) ∨̣\( \bar {d}_{2})\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\bar {d}_{1})\vee Tr^{n+1}(\bar {d}_{2})\).

Assume \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\) ¬̣\((\bar {d}_{1}\) ∨̣\( \bar {d}_{2}))\).

Then there are two sentences φ 1 and φ 2 of \(\mathcal {L}^{n+1}\), such that c n+1(φ 1)=d 1, and c n+1(φ 2)=d 2. Either c n+1(φ 1)∈L n+1L n and c n+1(φ 2)∈L n+1L n, or c n+1(φ 1)∈L n and c n+1(φ 2)∈L n, or (without loss of generality) c n+1(φ 1)∈L n+1L n and c n+1(φ 2)∈L n.

In case that c n+1(φ 1)∈L n+1L n and c n+1(φ 2)∈L n+1L n:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff

  • c n+1φ 1)∈E and c n+1φ 2)∈E iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{1})=t\) and \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{2})=t\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{1}\wedge \neg \varphi _{2})=t\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg (\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}))=t\) iff

  • c n+1(¬(φ 1φ 2))∈E iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg (\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2})\urcorner )\).

In case that c n+1(φ 1)∈L n and c n+1(φ 2)∈L n:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff

  • c n+1φ 1)∈E and c n+1φ 2)∈E iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\) and \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg (\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2})\urcorner )\) iff (by the definition of E)

  • c n+1(¬(φ 1φ 2))∈E iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\neg (\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2})\urcorner )\).

In case that c n+1(φ 1)∈L n+1L n and c n+1(φ 2)∈L n:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg (\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2})\urcorner )\) iff (by axiom 3a, which was proved in ‘ad 3a’, and c n+1(φ 1)∈L n+1L n)

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff

  • \(c^{n+1}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}\urcorner ))\in E\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}\urcorner ))=t\) iff (by strong Kleene logic)

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2}\urcorner ))=f\) iff

  • c n+1(φ 1φ 2)∈A iff (by the definition of A)

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2})=f\) iff (by strong Kleene logic)

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi _{1})=f\) and \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi _{2})=f\) iff (by strong Kleene logic)

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{1})=t\) and \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{2})=t\).

We continue this case as follows: concerning φ 1, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{1})=t\) iff c n+1φ 1)∈E iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\). Concerning φ 2, either c n+1(φ 2)∈L 0 or there is a k, 0<kn, such that c n+1(φ 2)∈L kL k−1. In case that c n+1(φ 2)∈L 0:

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{2})=t\) iff (by \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{1}\) and Theorem 4.1)

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{1}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{2})=t\) iff

  • c 1φ 2)∈I 1(T r 1) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{1}\vDash Tr^{1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{2}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{2}\), \(\mathcal {M}^{3}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{3}\), …, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\), and by axiom 1, which was proved in ‘ad 1’)

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\).

In case that c n+1(φ 2)∈L kL k−1:

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{2})=t\) iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{k}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi _{2})=t\) iff

  • \(I^{k}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\in I^{k}(Tr^{k})\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{k}\vDash Tr^{k}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{k+1}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{k+1}\), \(\mathcal {M}^{k+2}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{k+2}\), …, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\), and by axiom 1, which was proved in ‘ad 1’)

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\).

Thus, in case that c n+1(φ 1)∈L n+1L n and c n+1(φ 2)∈L n, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg (\varphi _{1}\vee \varphi _{2})\urcorner )\) iff \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{1}\urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi _{2}\urcorner )\). Therefore, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\) ¬̣\((\bar {d}_{1}\) ∨̣\( \bar {d}_{2}))\rightarrow (Tr^{n+1}(\) ¬̣\((\bar {d}_{1}\) ∨̣\( \bar {d}_{2}))\leftrightarrow (Tr^{n+1}(\) ¬̣\(\bar {d}_{1})\wedge Tr^{n+1}(\) ¬̣\(\bar {d}_{1})))\).

Assume \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Var_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\bar {d_{1}})\wedge Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\bar {d_{2}})\), and let c n+1(x)=d 1 and c n+1(φ)=d 2.

Then either \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\wedge \neg Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) or \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\). In case that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\wedge \neg Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\):

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \exists x\varphi \urcorner )\) iff

  • c n+1(∃x φ)∈E iff

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\exists x\varphi )=t\) iff

  • there is a dD, such that \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}([\varphi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})=t\) iff

  • there is a dD, such that \( c^{n+1}([\varphi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}})\in E\) iff

  • there is a dD, such that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\varphi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \exists z Tr^{n+1}(sub(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ,x,num(z)))\).

In case that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Frm_{\mathcal {L}^{n}}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\):

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \exists x\varphi \urcorner )\) iff

  • c n+1(∃x φ)∈E iff (since c n+1(∃x φ)∈L n)

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \exists x\varphi \urcorner ))=t\) iff (by \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\))

  • \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(\exists z Tr^{n}(sub(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ,x,num(z))))=t\) iff

  • there is a dD, such that \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}}(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner [\varphi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\urcorner ))=t\) iff (by axiom 1, which was proved in ‘ad 1’)

  • there is a dD, such that \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner [\varphi ]_{x}^{\bar {d}}\urcorner ))=t\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \exists z Tr^{n+1}(sub(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ,x,num(z)))\).

Thus, in both cases it holds that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \exists x\varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \linebreak \exists z Tr^{n+1}(sub(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ,x,num(z)))\), in other words \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Tr^{n+1}\)(∃̣\(\bar {d_{1}} \bar {d_{2}})\leftrightarrow \exists z Tr^{n+1}(sub(\bar {d_{2}},\bar {d_{1}},num(z)))\).

Analogously to ‘ad 6’.

Analogously distinguishing the cases c n+1(φ)∈L n and c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n.

Assume \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash Sent_{\mathcal {L}^{n+1}}\left (\bar {d}\right )\). It follows that there is a sentence φ such that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \bar {d}\equiv \ulcorner \varphi \urcorner \), and either c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n or c n+1(φ)∈L n.

Assume c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n. Since \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(\varphi )\neq Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(\neg \varphi )\), \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(\varphi )=t\) and \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)}(\neg \varphi )=t\) cannot both hold. Therefore, \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\varphi )=t\) and \(Val_{\mathcal {M}^{n}(E,A)}(\neg \varphi )=t\) cannot both be the case. Since c n+1(φ)∈L n+1L n, we thus obtain either c n+1(φ)∉E or c n+1φ)∉E. Hence, either \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))\) or \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi \urcorner ))\), and so \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner ))\vee \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi \urcorner ))\). Therefore, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg (Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi \urcorner ))\).

In case that c n+1(φ)∈L n, we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg (Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi \urcorner ))\) by \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\) and by axiom 9 of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\). Therefore, \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg (Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi \urcorner ))\), and by axiom 1, which was proved in ‘ad 1’, we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{n}(E)\vDash \neg (Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\wedge Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \neg \varphi \urcorner )) \)

Proof of corollary 4.1

  1. 1.

    The first claim is a generalisation of Lemma 4.1 and is demonstrated analogously.

  2. 2.

    The second claim is an immediate consequence of the first axioms of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\), \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), …, \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{m}\).

  3. 3.

    The third claim follows from claim 2 of this lemma and the second axioms of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\), \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), …, \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{m}\).

  4. 4.

    The fourth claim is demonstrated by induction over the depth i of a truth-diagnosis about φ of \(\mathcal {L}^{k}\).

Let i = 1. We obtain the claim by the following steps:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{n+1}\) is a {T r n+1}-expansion of \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n+1}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (by axiom 1 of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\) and φ is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{k}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n+1}\vDash Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (by analogous reasoning)

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\)

Therefore, \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) and \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow \linebreak \neg Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\).

Let i=2. There are four possible types of iterated T r n-diagnoses \(S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) about φ of depth 2: ‘(0,0)’, ‘(0,1)’, ‘(1,0)’ or ‘(1,1)’. We start with assuming that the type of \(S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) is ‘(1,0)’, i.e. \(S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )= Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\). Then we derive \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow S^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) by the following steps:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\) is a {T r n+1,T r n+2,…,T r m}-expansion of \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (by axiom 3a of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\) and since φ is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{k}\) and thus of \(\mathcal {L}^{n-1}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n-1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (by the first axiom of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\) and since φ is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{k}\) and thus of \(\mathcal {L}^{n-1}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{n+1}\) is a {T r n+1}-expansion of \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n+1}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (by the first axiom of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\) and since φ is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{k}\) and thus of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n+1}\vDash \neg Tr^{n+1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (by analogous reasoning)

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m-1}\vDash \neg Tr^{m-1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\) is a {T r m}-expansion of \(\mathcal {M}^{m-1}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash \neg Tr^{m-1}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff (by axiom 3a of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{m}\) and since φ is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{k}\) and thus of \(\mathcal {L}^{m-1}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash S^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\)

We obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow S^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) for the three other possible depth-2 types of \(S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) by similar reasoning.

We now show “ ii+1”, where i≥2. Assume that for each type τ of depth i, \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow S^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\), where \(S^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) is the iterated T r n-diagnosis about φ of type τ and \(S^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) is the iterated T r m-diagnosis about φ of type τ. Let \(U^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) be any iterated T r n-diagnosis about φ of depth i+1, and let \(U^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) be the respective iterated T r m-diagnosis about φ of depth i+1 and of the same type as \(U^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\).

The type of \(U^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) and \(U^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) begins with either one of the following pairs:‘(0,0)’, ‘(0,1)’, ‘(1,0)’ or ‘(1,1)’. We start with assuming that the type of \(U^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) begins with ‘(1,0)’, i.e. \(U^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )=Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\urcorner )\) where \(V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) is a T r n-diagnosis about φ of depth i−1. Since we have assumed that i≥2, i−1≥1, and so \(V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) is a “proper” T r n-diagnosis. Then we derive \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash U^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow U^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) by the following steps:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash U^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\) is a {T r n+1,T r n+2,…,T r m}-expansion of \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (by axiom 3b of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\) and \(V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\backslash \mathcal {L}^{n-1}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (since \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\) is a {T r n+1,T r n+2,…,T r m}-expansion of \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (by the induction hypothesis and \(Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) is an iterated T r n-diagnosis about φ of depth i)

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \neg V^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\) (where \(V^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) is the T r m-diagnosis about φ with the same type as \(V^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\)) iff (by axiom 3b of KF m and \(V^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{m}\backslash \mathcal {L}^{m-1}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{m}(\ulcorner V^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash U^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\)

We obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash U^{n}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\leftrightarrow U^{m}(\ulcorner \varphi \urcorner )\) in case of the three other possible types by similar reasoning.

5. The fifth claim is demonstrated by induction over the depth i of the iterated T r n-diagnosis of \(S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) about λ n. Let i=1. We obtain the induction basis by \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) and \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\nvDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) (which are immediate consequences of the first claim of this Lemma). Thus there is no T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth 1 that begins with ‘1’ and that is true in \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\).

Let i=2. We have \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\). By Lemma 3.3 and \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\leftrightarrow Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\), we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\). By \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) and axiom 2 of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\), we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \linebreak \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\). Thus there is no T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth 2 that begins with ‘1’ and that is true in \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\).

We show “ ii+1”, where i≥2. Assume that the type of each iterated T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth i and that is true in \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\), begins with ‘0’. Furthermore, assume for reductio that there is an iterated T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth i+1 that begins with ‘1’ and that is true in \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\). Then there is a T r n-diagnosis \(S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) about λ n of depth i such that \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\).

Assume that the type of \(S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) begins with ‘0’, i.e. \(S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )=\linebreak \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\) where \(S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) is a T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth i−1≥1 (by i≥2). Then we derive a contradiction by the following steps:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (by \(S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )=\neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner ))\)

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (by axiom 3b of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\) and since \(S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) is a sentence of \(\mathcal {L}^{n}\backslash \mathcal {L}^{n-1}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\)

Thus, there would an iterated T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth i that does not begin with ‘0’ and that is true in \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\), which contradicts the induction hypothesis.

If the type of \(S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) begins with ‘1’, i.e. \(S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )=Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\) where \(S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) is a T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth i−1, then we derive a contradiction by the following steps:

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (by \(S(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )=Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner ))\)

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\urcorner )\) iff (by axiom 2 of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n}\))

  • \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash Tr^{n}(\ulcorner S^{\prime }(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\)

Thus, there would be an iterated T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth i that does not begin with ‘0’ and that is true in \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\), which contradicts the induction hypothesis as well. In consequence, there can be no T r n-diagnosis about λ n of depth i+1 that begins with ‘1’ and that is true in \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\).

6. By \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\) and the first axioms of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{n+1}\), …, \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{m-1}\), we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{m-1}\vDash \neg Tr^{m-1}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\). Moreover, by axiom 3a of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{m}\) we obtain \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\). By iterated application of the second axiom of \(\text {KF}^{\prime }_{m}\), we derive \(\mathcal {M}^{m}\vDash Tr^{m}(\ulcorner Tr^{m}(\ulcorner {\ldots } Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{m}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\ldots \urcorner )\urcorner )\). On the other hand, we have \(\mathcal {M}^{n}\vDash \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner Tr^{n}(\ulcorner {\ldots } Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \neg Tr^{n}(\ulcorner \lambda ^{n}\urcorner )\urcorner )\ldots \urcorner )\urcorner )\) (in consequence of claim 5 of this Lemma) □

Proof of corollary 4.2

  1. 1.

    The claim is derived analogously to the first claim of Lemma 4.2.

  2. 2.

    The claim is derived analogously to the second claim of Lemma 4.2.

  3. 3.

    The claim is an immediate consequence of the first claim of Corollary 4.1.

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Schurz, C. Contextual-Hierarchical Reconstructions of the Strengthened Liar Problem. J Philos Logic 44, 517–550 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-014-9341-7

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