Post History
#2: Post edited
- Consider a type theory with a universe
of logical propositions (for now, it is not necessarily impredicative). Write for the decoding function for this universe. If we stipulate proof irrelevance (i.e., say that for any and any two terms , we have ), then we can consider set models in which is interpreted as a two-element set, say , and for every , is interpreted as the set . In such set models, a proposition would be interpreted as if is interpreted as and as if is interpreted as .- Is it possible to do the same (in some sense) if proof irrelevance is not stipulated? I believe we can still interpret
as , but if there is no proof irrelevance, there may be as many terms of type (where ) as we wish, and thus it is not clear which set we should interpret as. (The only thing that is clear is that the interpretation of should contain the empty set.) And then if we know how to interpret , how should we interpret propositions? Would it be enough to just say that is interpreted as if the interpretation of is and as otherwise? - And a related question: Does the answer to the question(s) in the previous paragraph depend on whether
is predicative or impredicative? In [this stack of slides](https://math.colorado.edu/~chme3268/assets/documents/type-theory.pdf) it is said that impredicativity is only possible if "is" , but it's not clarified what "is" means here.
- Consider a type theory with a universe
of logical propositions (for now, it is not necessarily impredicative). Write for the decoding function for this universe. - If we stipulate proof irrelevance (i.e., say that for any
and any two terms , we have ), then we can consider set models in which is interpreted as a two-element set, say , and for every , is interpreted as the set . In such set models, a proposition would be interpreted as if is interpreted as and as if is interpreted as . I believe this works regardless of whether is predicative or impredicative, but please correct me if I'm wrong. - Is it possible to do the same (in some sense) if proof irrelevance is not stipulated? I believe we can still interpret
as , but if there is no proof irrelevance, there may be as many terms of type (where ) as we wish, and thus it is not clear which set we should interpret as. (The only thing that is clear is that the interpretation of should contain the empty set.) And then if we know how to interpret , how should we interpret propositions? Would it be enough to just say that is interpreted as if the interpretation of is and as otherwise? - And a related question: Does the answer to the question(s) in the previous paragraph depend on whether
is predicative or impredicative? In [this stack of slides](https://math.colorado.edu/~chme3268/assets/documents/type-theory.pdf) it is said that impredicativity is only possible if "is" , but it's not clarified what "is" means here.
#1: Initial revision
Interpreting $\text{Prop}$ in Set
Consider a type theory with a universe $\text{Prop}$ of logical propositions (for now, it is not necessarily impredicative). Write $\text{T}$ for the decoding function for this universe. If we stipulate proof irrelevance (i.e., say that for any $P:\text{Prop}$ and any two terms $a,b:\text{T}(P)$, we have $a=b$), then we can consider set models in which $\text{Prop}$ is interpreted as a two-element set, say $\{t,f\}$, and for every $P:\text{Prop}$, $\text{T}(P)$ is interpreted as the set $\{\emptyset, \{*\}\}$. In such set models, a proposition $P:\text{Prop}$ would be interpreted as $t$ if $\text{T}(P)$ is interpreted as $\{*\}$ and as $f$ if $\text{T}(P)$ is interpreted as $\emptyset$. Is it possible to do the same (in some sense) if proof irrelevance is not stipulated? I believe we can still interpret $\text{Prop}$ as $\{t,f\}$, but if there is no proof irrelevance, there may be as many terms of type $\text{T}(P)$ (where $P:\text{Prop}$) as we wish, and thus it is not clear which set we should interpret $\text{T}(P)$ as. (The only thing that is clear is that the interpretation of $\text{T}(P)$ should contain the empty set.) And then if we know how to interpret $\text{T}(P)$, how should we interpret propositions? Would it be enough to just say that $P$ is interpreted as $f$ if the interpretation of $\text{T}(P)$ is $\emptyset$ and as $t$ otherwise? And a related question: Does the answer to the question(s) in the previous paragraph depend on whether $\text{Prop}$ is predicative or impredicative? In [this stack of slides](https://math.colorado.edu/~chme3268/assets/documents/type-theory.pdf) it is said that impredicativity is only possible if $\text{Prop}$ "is" $\{\emptyset,\{*\}\}$, but it's not clarified what "is" means here.