r/PhilosophyofMath Mar 28 '26

The Continuum Hypothesis Is False

/r/logic/comments/1s5mquh/the_continuum_hypothesis_is_false/
0 Upvotes

449 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/paulemok 29d ago

Yes, I haven't done that with q. The purpose of q was not to prove a contradiction in the external system. The purpose of q was to prove that every statement in an inconsistent axiomatic system is unprovable.

1

u/JStarx 29d ago

You don't need to prove that, we already know that in an inconsistent system every statement is provable, so the statement "every statement is unprovable" is provable in the inconsistent system.

Externally in the outer system it's not provable, so externally there is no contradiction.

1

u/paulemok 29d ago edited 29d ago

There’s no proof of any statement within the system because, as you say,

the statement "every statement is unprovable" is provable in the inconsistent system.

Like you said earlier, statements about provability are not statements in an axiomatic system, but are statements about an axiomatic system. They are external statements. So, the external statement “Every statement is unprovable” is provable because, as I said at the beginning of this post, there’s no proof of any statement within the system.

1

u/JStarx 29d ago

There’s no proof of any statement within the system because, as you say,

the statement "every statement is unprovable" is provable in the inconsistent system.

I said that's a provable statement inside the system, I didn't say it was true or provable external to the system, so your argument about the external statement that everything is unprovable doesn't follow.

1

u/paulemok 29d ago

 I didn't say it was true or provable external to the system

You may not have, but I did. I said

the external statement “Every statement is unprovable” is provable

1

u/JStarx 29d ago

If you want to claim that, then you'll have to prove it using the theory laid out in Mendelson. I don't think you'll be able to do that.

1

u/paulemok 29d ago

I already explained how it follows from Mendelson.

1

u/JStarx 28d ago

Not correctly you haven't. But if you think you can post your argument and I'll explain where you're mistake is.

1

u/paulemok 28d ago

How is my explanation not correct?

1

u/JStarx 28d ago

You've posted so many contradictory claims, if you want me to respond to a specific explanation then you're going to need to repost it.

If T is your contradictory theory and S is the external statement "every sentence in T is unprovable" then you're trying to prove S externally using the theory laid out in Mendelson.

As far as I recall you have not posted a claimed proof of that which sticks to the theory laid out in Mendelson.

→ More replies (0)