Nitpick, the Lowenheim-Skolem Theorems arre not quite that general. If we allow languages with uncountably many symbols and sets of uncountably many axioms then we can lower bound the cardinality (by bringing in uncountably many constants and for each pair adding the axiom that they are not equal). The technically correct claim would be that any set of axioms either have a finite upper bound on their models, or have models of every infinite cardinality at least as large as the alphabet in which they are expressed.
But at least it’s (the Compactness Theorem) simpler than the Completeness Theorem
It is!? Does anyone know a proof of Compactness that doesn’t use completeness as a lemma?
It is!? Does anyone know a proof of Compactness that doesn’t use completeness as a lemma?
There’s actually a direct one on ProofWiki. It’s constructive, even, sort of. (Roughly: take the ultraproduct of all the models of the finite subsets with a suitable choice of ultrafilter.) If you’ve worked with ultraproducts at all, and maybe if you haven’t, this proof is pretty intuitive.
As Qiaochu_Yuan points out, this is equivalent to the ultrafilter lemma, which is independent of ZF but strictly weaker than the Axiom of Choice. So, maybe it’s not that intuitive.
It is!? Does anyone know a proof of Compactness that doesn’t use completeness as a lemma?
Yes: instead of proving “A theory that has no model has a finite proof of a contradiction” you prove the equivalent converse “If every finite subset of a theory has a model, then the theory has a model” (which is why the theorem is named after compactness at all) by constructing a chain of model and showing that the limit of the chain has a model.
Also the original proof of Goedel used Compactness to prove Completeness.
It is!? Does anyone know a proof of Compactness that doesn’t use completeness as a lemma?
Yes. Or, at least, I did once! That’s the way we proved it the logic course I did. The proof is a lot harder. But considering that the implication from Completeness is pretty trivial, that’s not saying much.
Nitpick, the Lowenheim-Skolem Theorems arre not quite that general. If we allow languages with uncountably many symbols and sets of uncountably many axioms then we can lower bound the cardinality (by bringing in uncountably many constants and for each pair adding the axiom that they are not equal). The technically correct claim would be that any set of axioms either have a finite upper bound on their models, or have models of every infinite cardinality at least as large as the alphabet in which they are expressed.
It is!? Does anyone know a proof of Compactness that doesn’t use completeness as a lemma?
There’s actually a direct one on ProofWiki. It’s constructive, even, sort of. (Roughly: take the ultraproduct of all the models of the finite subsets with a suitable choice of ultrafilter.) If you’ve worked with ultraproducts at all, and maybe if you haven’t, this proof is pretty intuitive.
As Qiaochu_Yuan points out, this is equivalent to the ultrafilter lemma, which is independent of ZF but strictly weaker than the Axiom of Choice. So, maybe it’s not that intuitive.
That’s really beautiful, thanks.
Yes: instead of proving “A theory that has no model has a finite proof of a contradiction” you prove the equivalent converse “If every finite subset of a theory has a model, then the theory has a model” (which is why the theorem is named after compactness at all) by constructing a chain of model and showing that the limit of the chain has a model. Also the original proof of Goedel used Compactness to prove Completeness.
Yes. Or, at least, I did once! That’s the way we proved it the logic course I did. The proof is a lot harder. But considering that the implication from Completeness is pretty trivial, that’s not saying much.