A New Approach to Predicative Set Theory

We suggest a new basic framework for the Weyl-Feferman predicativist program by constructing a formal predicative set theory PZF which resembles ZF . The basic idea is that the predicatively acceptable instances of the comprehension schema are those which determine the collections they define in an absolute way, independent of the extension of the “surrounding universe”. This idea is implemented using syntactic safety relations between formulas and sets of variables. These safety relations generalize both the notion of domain-independence from database theory, and Godel notion of absoluteness from set theory. The language of PZF is type-free, and it reflects real mathematical practice in making an extensive use of statically defined abstract set terms. Another important feature of PZF is that its underlying logic is ancestral logic (i.e. the extension of FOL with a transitive closure operation).