Notes on the mathematical aspects of Kripke's theory of truth (Q1073007)

Kripke's Theory of Truth has had substantial philosophical influence, but its mathematical complexity is considerable. This paper presents, in a compact connected fashion, a development of the background mathematics pertinent to Kripke's theory, largely skipping over philosophical motivation. The paper is mathematically self-contained. There are a few items in the treatment presented which, although not new, seem to have been ignored by most writers in the area. It is most common to establish the existence of smallest fixed points by using ordinally indexed sequences of approximations. This is not necessary, uses more mathematical machinery than is necessary, and tends to obscure the inherent simplicity of the subject. An alternate presentation is given that avoids this use of ordinal approximations. Also, models are not used directly. Their place is taken by sets of statements, Hintikka fashion, model sets. Saturation notions for such sets of statements play the role that Kleene's three valued logic played in Kripke's original presentation.