•  90
    Erratum to: On Definability in Dependence Logic (review)
    Journal of Logic, Language and Information 20 (1): 133-134. 2011.
  •  204
    On Scott and Karp trees of uncountable models
    with Tapani Hyttinen
    Journal of Symbolic Logic 55 (3): 897-908. 1990.
    Let U and B be two countable relational models of the same first order language. If the models are nonisomorphic, there is a unique countable ordinal α with the property that $\mathfrak{U} \equiv^\alpha_{\infty\omega} \mathfrak{B} \text{but not} \mathfrak{U} \equiv^{\alpha + 1}_{\infty\omega} \mathfrak{B},$ i.e. U and B are L ∞ω -equivalent up to quantifier-rank α but not up to α + 1. In this paper we consider models U and B of cardinality ω 1 and construct trees which have a similar relation to…Read more
  •  2
    Set Theory
    Journal of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research 27 (1). 2010.
  •  68
    Positional strategies in long ehrenfeucht–fraïssé games
    with S. Shelah and B. Veličković
    Journal of Symbolic Logic 80 (1): 285-300. 2015.
  •  135
    Chain models, trees of singular cardinality and dynamic ef-games
    Journal of Mathematical Logic 11 (1): 61-85. 2011.
    Let κ be a singular cardinal. Karp's notion of a chain model of size κ is defined to be an ordinary model of size κ along with a decomposition of it into an increasing union of length cf. With a notion of satisfaction and -isomorphism such models give an infinitary logic largely mimicking first order logic. In this paper we associate to this logic a notion of a dynamic EF-game which gauges when two chain models are chain-isomorphic. To this game is associated a tree which is a tree of size κ wit…Read more
  •  77
    Game-theoretic inductive definability
    with Juha Oikkonen
    Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 65 (3): 265-306. 1993.
    Oikkonen, J. and J. Väänänen, Game-theoretic inductive definability, Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 65 265-306. We use game-theoretic ideas to define a generalization of the notion of inductive definability. This approach allows induction along non-well-founded trees. Our definition depends on an underlying partial ordering of the objects. In this ordering every countable ascending sequence is assumed to have a unique supremum which enables us to go over limits. We establish basic properties o…Read more
  •  132
    Second‐Order Logic and Set Theory
    Philosophy Compass 10 (7): 463-478. 2015.
    Both second-order logic and set theory can be used as a foundation for mathematics, that is, as a formal language in which propositions of mathematics can be expressed and proved. We take it upon ourselves in this paper to compare the two approaches, second-order logic on one hand and set theory on the other hand, evaluating their merits and weaknesses. We argue that we should think of first-order set theory as a very high-order logic
  •  51
    Editorial Introduction
    with Juha Kontinen and Dag Westerståhl
    Studia Logica 101 (2): 233-236. 2013.
  •  126
    Internal Categoricity in Arithmetic and Set Theory
    with Tong Wang
    Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 56 (1): 121-134. 2015.
    We show that the categoricity of second-order Peano axioms can be proved from the comprehension axioms. We also show that the categoricity of second-order Zermelo–Fraenkel axioms, given the order type of the ordinals, can be proved from the comprehension axioms. Thus these well-known categoricity results do not need the so-called “full” second-order logic, the Henkin second-order logic is enough. We also address the question of “consistency” of these axiom systems in the second-order sense, that…Read more
  •  267
    Barwise: Abstract model theory and generalized quantifiers
    Bulletin of Symbolic Logic 10 (1): 37-53. 2004.
    §1. Introduction. After the pioneering work of Mostowski [29] and Lindström [23] it was Jon Barwise's papers [2] and [3] that brought abstract model theory and generalized quantifiers to the attention of logicians in the early seventies. These papers were greeted with enthusiasm at the prospect that model theory could be developed by introducing a multitude of extensions of first order logic, and by proving abstract results about relationships holding between properties of these logics. Examples…Read more
  •  45
    Boolean valued models and generalized quantifiers
    Annals of Mathematical Logic 18 (3): 193-225. 1980.
  •  151
    Definability of polyadic lifts of generalized quantifiers
    with Lauri Hella and Dag Westerståhl
    Journal of Logic, Language and Information 6 (3): 305-335. 1997.
    We study generalized quantifiers on finite structures.With every function : we associate a quantifier Q by letting Q x say there are at least (n) elementsx satisfying , where n is the sizeof the universe. This is the general form ofwhat is known as a monotone quantifier of type .We study so called polyadic liftsof such quantifiers. The particular lifts we considerare Ramseyfication, branching and resumption.In each case we get exact criteria fordefinability of the lift in terms of simpler quanti…Read more
  • Craig's theorem and syntax of abstract logics
    Bulletin of the Section of Logic 11 (1-2): 82-83. 1982.
    The Craig Interpolation Theorem is a fundamental property of rst order logic L!!. What happens if we strengthen rst order logic? Second order logic L 2 satises Craig for trivial reasons but on the other hand, L 2 is not very interesting from a fundational point of view
  •  108
    A note on extensions of infinitary logic
    with Saharon Shelah
    Archive for Mathematical Logic 44 (1): 63-69. 2005.
    We show that a strong form of the so called Lindström’s Theorem [4] fails to generalize to extensions of L κ ω and L κ κ : For weakly compact κ there is no strongest extension of L κ ω with the (κ,κ)-compactness property and the Löwenheim-Skolem theorem down to κ. With an additional set-theoretic assumption, there is no strongest extension of L κ κ with the (κ,κ)-compactness property and the Löwenheim-Skolem theorem down to
  •  131
    Propositional logics of dependence
    with Fan Yang
    Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 167 (7): 557-589. 2016.
  •  59
    On the Axiomatizability of the Notion of an Automorphism of a Finite Order
    with D. A. Anapolitanos
    Zeitschrift fur mathematische Logik und Grundlagen der Mathematik 26 (28-30): 433-437. 1980.
  •  223
    Trees and -subsets of ω1ω1
    with Alan Mekler
    Journal of Symbolic Logic 58 (3): 1052-1070. 1993.
    We study descriptive set theory in the space ω1 ω 1 by letting trees with no uncountable branches play a similar role as countable ordinals in traditional descriptive set theory. By using such trees, we get, for example, a covering property for the class of Π 1 1 -sets of ω1 ω 1 . We call a family U of trees universal for a class V of trees if $\mathscr{U} \subseteq \mathscr{V}$ and every tree in V can be order-preservingly mapped into a tree in U. It is well known that the class of countable tr…Read more
  •  197
    We study definability in terms of monotone generalized quantifiers satisfying Isomorphism Closure, Conservativity and Extension. Among the quantifiers with the latter three properties - here called CE quantifiers - one finds the interpretations of determiner phrases in natural languages. The property of monotonicity is also linguistically ubiquitous, though some determiners like an even number of are highly non-monotone. They are nevertheless definable in terms of monotone CE quantifiers: we giv…Read more
  •  58
    Regular Ultrapowers at Regular Cardinals
    with Juliette Kennedy and Saharon Shelah
    Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 56 (3): 417-428. 2015.
    In earlier work by the first and second authors, the equivalence of a finite square principle $\square^{\mathrm{fin}}_{\lambda,D}$ with various model-theoretic properties of structures of size $\lambda $ and regular ultrafilters was established. In this paper we investigate the principle $\square^{\mathrm{fin}}_{\lambda,D}$—and thereby the above model-theoretic properties—at a regular cardinal. By Chang’s two-cardinal theorem, $\square^{\mathrm{fin}}_{\lambda,D}$ holds at regular cardinals for a…Read more
  •  95
    On second-order characterizability
    with T. Hyttinen and K. Kangas
    Logic Journal of the IGPL 21 (5): 767-787. 2013.
  •  98
    An Ehrenfeucht‐Fraïssé game for Lω1ω
    with Tong Wang
    Mathematical Logic Quarterly 59 (4-5): 357-370. 2013.
    In this paper we develop an Ehrenfeucht‐Fraïssé game for. Unlike the standard Ehrenfeucht‐Fraïssé games which are modeled solely after the behavior of quantifiers, this new game also takes into account the behavior of connectives in logic. We prove the adequacy theorem for this game. We also apply the new game to prove complexity results about infinite binary strings.
  •  47
    Recursive logic frames
    with Saharon Shelah
    Mathematical Logic Quarterly 52 (2): 151-164. 2006.
    We define the concept of a logic frame , which extends the concept of an abstract logic by adding the concept of a syntax and an axiom system. In a recursive logic frame the syntax and the set of axioms are recursively coded. A recursive logic frame is called complete , if every finite consistent theory has a model. We show that for logic frames built from the cardinality quantifiers “there exists at least λ ” completeness always implies .0-compactness. On the other hand we show that a recursive…Read more
  •  126
    Quantifiers and congruence closure
    with Jörg Flum and Matthias Schiehlen
    Studia Logica 62 (3): 315-340. 1999.
    We prove some results about the limitations of the expressive power of quantifiers on finite structures. We define the concept of a bounded quantifier and prove that every relativizing quantifier which is bounded is already first-order definable (Theorem 3.8). We weaken the concept of congruence closed (see [6]) to weakly congruence closed by restricting to congruence relations where all classes have the same size. Adapting the concept of a thin quantifier (Caicedo [1]) to the framework of finit…Read more
  •  313
    Second order logic or set theory?
    Bulletin of Symbolic Logic 18 (1): 91-121. 2012.
    We try to answer the question which is the “right” foundation of mathematics, second order logic or set theory. Since the former is usually thought of as a formal language and the latter as a first order theory, we have to rephrase the question. We formulate what we call the second order view and a competing set theory view, and then discuss the merits of both views. On the surface these two views seem to be in manifest conflict with each other. However, our conclusion is that it is very difficu…Read more
  •  183
    On definability in dependence logic
    with Juha Kontinen
    Journal of Logic, Language and Information 18 (3): 317-332. 2009.
    We study the expressive power of open formulas of dependence logic introduced in Väänänen [Dependence logic (Vol. 70 of London Mathematical Society Student Texts), 2007]. In particular, we answer a question raised by Wilfrid Hodges: how to characterize the sets of teams definable by means of identity only in dependence logic, or equivalently in independence friendly logic.
  •  170
    In memoriam: Per Lindström
    Theoria 76 (2): 100-107. 2010.
  •  147
    Aesthetics and the Dream of Objectivity: Notes from Set Theory
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 58 (1): 83-98. 2015.
    In this paper, we consider various ways in which aesthetic value bears on, if not serves as evidence for, the truth of independent statements in set theory.... the aesthetic issue, which in practice will also for me be the decisive factor—John von Neumann, letter to Carnap, 1931For me, it is the aesthetics which may very well be the final arbiter—P. J. Cohen, 2002
  •  175
    Categoricity and Consistency in Second-Order Logic
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 58 (1): 20-27. 2015.
    We analyse the concept of a second-order characterisable structure and divide this concept into two parts—consistency and categoricity—with different strength and nature. We argue that categorical characterisation of mathematical structures in second-order logic is meaningful and possible without assuming that the semantics of second-order logic is defined in set theory. This extends also to the so-called Henkin structures