The ubiquitous axiom (Q2038868)

The paper under review is set in the context of plane absolute geometry and Hilbert planes, in the absence of any assumption on continuity that implies the Archimedean axiom. In this context, many statements that are usually considered equivalent to the Euclidean parallel postulate \textbf{P} turn out to be weaker than it. The paper starts with a description of an axiomatic system that defines plane absolute geometry. Then it introduces several different statements related to Euclidean parallel postulate, analysing their formulation and their relationship with \textbf{P}. Among others, a prominent role is played by the axiom \textbf{R} postulating the existence of a rectangle, the axiom \textbf{A} asking that, from any point inside a right angle, there exists a line that intersects both sides of the angle, the \emph{Lotschnittaxiom} \textbf{L} and Aristotele's axiom \textbf{Ar}. Among the main results in the paper, for some of these axioms a purely geometric-incidence expression (avoiding notions like congruence or betweenness) is introduced and some of them are proven to be the simplest ones possible from a syntactic point of view. Moreover, several (non-trivial) splitting of \textbf{P} involving the previous axioms are proven.