The independence of the Prime Ideal Theorem from the Order-Extension Principle

Abstract

AbstractIt is shown that the boolean prime ideal theorem BPIT: every boolean algebra has a prime ideal, does not follow from the order-extension principle OE: every partial ordering can be extended to a linear ordering. The proof uses a Fraenkel–Mostowski model, where the family of atoms is indexed by a countable universal-homogeneous boolean algebra whose boolean partial ordering has a ‘generic’ extension to a linear ordering. To illustrate the technique for proving that the order-extension principle holds in the model we also study Mostowski's ordered model, and give a direct verification of OE there. The key technical point needed to verify OE in each case is the existence of a support structure.