negative translation


It is well-known that classical propositional logicPlanetmathPlanetmath PLc can be considered as a subsystem of intuitionistic propositional logic PLi by translating any wff A in PLc into ¬¬A in PLi. According to Glivenko’s theoremMathworldPlanetmath, A is a theorem of PLc iff ¬¬A is a theorem of PLi. This translation, however, fails to preserve theoremhood in the corresponding predicate logics. For example, if A is of the form xB, then cA no longer implies i¬¬A. A number of translations have been devised to overcome this defect. They are collective known as negative translations or double negative translations of classical logic into intuitionistic logicMathworldPlanetmath. Below is a list of the most commonly mentioned negative translations:

  • Kolmogorov negative translation:

    1. (a)

      p:=¬¬p with p atomic and :=

    2. (b)

      (AB):=¬¬(AB)

    3. (c)

      (AB):=¬¬(AB)

    4. (d)

      (AB):=¬¬(AB)

    5. (e)

      (xA):=¬¬xA

    6. (f)

      (xA):=¬¬xA

  • Godël negative translation:

    1. (a)

      p-:=¬¬p with p atomic and -:=

    2. (b)

      (AB)-:=A-B-

    3. (c)

      (AB)-:=¬¬(A-B-)

    4. (d)

      (AB)-:=A-B-

    5. (e)

      (xA)-:=xA-

    6. (f)

      (xA)-:=¬¬xA-

  • Kuroda negative translation:

    1. (a)

      pu:=p with p atomic and u:=

    2. (b)

      (AB)u:=AuBu

    3. (c)

      (AB)u:=AuBu

    4. (d)

      (AB)u:=AuBu

    5. (e)

      (xA)u:=x¬¬Au

    6. (f)

      (xA)u:=xAu

    And then Au:=¬¬Au.

  • Krivine negative translation:

    1. (a)

      pr:=¬p with p atomic and r:=¬

    2. (b)

      (AB)r:=ArBr

    3. (c)

      (AB)r:=ArBr

    4. (d)

      (AB)r:=¬ArBr

    5. (e)

      (xA)r:=xAr

    6. (f)

      (xA)r:=¬x¬Ar

    And then Ar:=¬Ar.

Remark. It can be shown that for any wff A:

iA*A#    and    cAiffiA*

where *,#{,-,u,r}.

Title negative translation
Canonical name NegativeTranslation
Date of creation 2013-03-22 19:35:48
Last modified on 2013-03-22 19:35:48
Owner CWoo (3771)
Last modified by CWoo (3771)
Numerical id 9
Author CWoo (3771)
Entry type Definition
Classification msc 03B20
Classification msc 03F55
Synonym double negative translation
Defines Kolmogorov negative translation
Defines Godel negative translation
Defines Kuroda negative translation
Defines Krivine negative translation
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