Intuitionistic Natural Deduction Research Articles

Harmony in the Light of Computational Ludics

Prawitz formulated the so-called inversion principle as one of the characteristic features of Gentzen's intuitionistic natural deduction. In the literature on proof-theoretic semantics, this principle is often coupled with another that is called the recovery principle. By adopting the Computational Ludics framework, we reformulate these principles into one and the same condition, which we call the harmony condition. We show that this reformulation allows us to reveal two intuitive ideas standing behind these principles: the idea of "containment" present in the inversion principle, and the idea that the recovery principle is the "converse" of the inversion principle. We also formulate two other conditions in the Computational Ludics framework, and we show that each of them is equivalent to the harmony condition.

Completeness theorems for first-order logic analysed in constructive type theory

AbstractWe study various formulations of the completeness of first-order logic phrased in constructive type theory and mechanised in the Coq proof assistant. Specifically, we examine the completeness of variants of classical and intuitionistic natural deduction and sequent calculi with respect to model-theoretic, algebraic, and game-theoretic semantics. As completeness with respect to the standard model-theoretic semantics à la Tarski and Kripke is not readily constructive, we analyse connections of completeness theorems to Markov’s Principle and Weak Kőnig’s Lemma and discuss non-standard semantics admitting assumption-free completeness. We contribute a reusable Coq library for first-order logic containing all results covered in this paper.

About proof-search in intuitionistic natural deduction calculus using partial Skolemization

In this paper, automated proof search in single-conclusion sequential variant of intuitionistic and minimal predicate calculus is considered. In this algorithm, meta-variables and partial Skolemization are used. Theorems of soundness and completeness for the considered algorithm are proved.

Gentzen's Proof Systems: Byproducts in a Work of Genius

AbstractGentzen's systems of natural deduction and sequent calculus were byproducts in his program of proving the consistency of arithmetic and analysis. It is suggested that the central component in his results on logical calculi was the use of a tree form for derivations. It allows the composition of derivations and the permutation of the order of application of rules, with a full control over the structure of derivations as a result. Recently found documents shed new light on the discovery of these calculi. In particular, Gentzen set up five different forms of natural calculi and gave a detailed proof of normalization for intuitionistic natural deduction. An early handwritten manuscript of his thesis shows that a direct translation from natural deduction to the axiomatic logic of Hilbert and Ackermann was, in addition to the influence of Paul Hertz, the second component in the discovery of sequent calculus. A system intermediate between the sequent calculus LI and axiomatic logic, denoted LIG in unpublished sources, is implicit in Gentzen's published thesis of 1934–35. The calculus has half rules, half “groundsequents,” and does not allow full cut elimination. Nevertheless, a translation from LI to LIG in the published thesis gives a subformula property for a complete class of derivations in LIG. After the thesis, Gentzen continued to work on variants of sequent calculi for ten more years, in the hope to find a consistency proof for arithmetic within an intuitionistic calculus.

Gentzen's Proof of Normalization for Natural Deduction

AbstractGentzen writes in the published version of his doctoral thesis Untersuchungen über das logische Schliessen (Investigations into logical reasoning) that he was able to prove the normalization theorem only for intuitionistic natural deduction, but not for classical. To cover the latter, he developed classical sequent calculus and proved a corresponding theorem, the famous cut elimination result. Its proof was organized so that a cut elimination result for an intuitionistic sequent calculus came out as a special case, namely the one in which the sequents have at most one formula in the right, succedent part. Thus, there was no need for a direct proof of normalization for intuitionistic natural deduction. The only traces of such a proof in the published thesis are some convertibilities, such as when an implication introduction is followed by an implication elimination [1934–35, II.5.13]. It remained to Dag Prawitz in 1965 to work out a proof of normalization. Another, less known proof was given also in 1965 by Andres Raggio.We found in February 2005 an early handwritten version of Gentzen's thesis, with exactly the above title, but with rather different contents: Most remarkably, it contains a detailed proof of normalization for what became the standard system of natural deduction. The manuscript is located in the Paul Bernays collection at the ETH-Zurichwith the signum Hs. 974: 271. Bernays must have gotten it well before the time of his being expelled from Göttingen on the basis of the racial laws in April 1933.

A simple proof of second-order strong normalization with permutative conversions

A simple and complete proof of strong normalization for first- and second-order intuitionistic natural deduction including disjunction, first-order existence and permutative conversions is given. The paper follows the Tait–Girard approach via computability predicates (reducibility) and saturated sets. Strong normalization is first established for a set of conversions of a new kind, then deduced for the standard conversions. Difficulties arising for disjunction are resolved using a new logic where disjunction is restricted to atomic formulas.

Call-by-value is dual to call-by-name

The rules of classical logic may be formulated in pairs corresponding to De Morgan duals: rules about & are dual to rules about V . A line of work, including that of Filinski (1989), Griffin (1990), Parigot (1992), Danos, Joinet, and Schellinx (1995), Selinger (1998,2001), and Curien and Herbelin (2000), has led to the startling conclusion that call-by-value is the de Morgan dual of call-by-name.This paper presents a dual calculus that corresponds to the classical sequent calculus of Gentzen (1935) in the same way that the lambda calculus of Church (1932,1940) corresponds to the intuitionistic natural deduction of Gentzen (1935). The paper includes crisp formulations of call-by-value and call-by-name that are obviously dual; no similar formulations appear in the literature. The paper gives a CPS translation and its inverse, and shows that the translation is both sound and complete, strengthening a result in Curien and Herbelin (2000).

On the Strong Normalisation of Intuitionistic Natural Deduction with Permutation-Conversions

We present a modular proof of the strong normalisation of intuitionistic logic with permutation-conversions. This proof is based on the notions of negative translation and CPS-simulation.

Least and greatest fixed points in intuitionistic natural deduction

This paper is a comparative study of a number of (intensional-semantically distinct) least and greatest fixed point operators that natural-deduction proof systems for intuitionistic logics can be extended with in a proof-theoretically defendable way. Eight pairs of such operators are analysed. The exposition is centred around a cube-shaped classification where each node stands for an axiomatization of one pair of operators as logical constants by intended proof and reduction rules and each arc for a proof- and reduction-preserving encoding of one pair in terms of another. The three dimensions of the cube reflect three orthogonal binary options: conventional-style vs. Mendler-style, basic (“[co]iterative”) vs. enhanced (“primitive–[co]recursive”), simple vs. course-of-value [co]induction. Some of the axiomatizations and encodings are well known; others, however, are novel; the classification into a cube is also new. The differences between the least fixed point operators considered are illustrated on the example of the corresponding natural number types.

Proofs of strong normalisation for second order classical natural deduction

AbstractWe give two proofs of strong normalisation for second order classical natural deduction. The first one is an adaptation of the method of reducibility candidates introduced in [9] for second order intuitionistic natural deduction; the extension to the classical case requires in particular a simplification of the notion of reducibility candidate. The second one is a reduction to the intuitionistic case, using a Kolmogorov translation.