Definition:Impredicative Definition
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Definition
An impredicative definition is a definition in which an element of a set is defined by reference to the totality of the elements of the set .
Intuitionist Perspective
The concept of an impredicative definition is rejected by the intuitionistic school, which rejects the existence of an mathematical object if it cannot exist independently of our ability to prove its existence using a finite number of steps.
Also see
- Results about impredicative definitions can be found here.
Sources
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): intuitionism
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): intuitionism