Comments on: Santa and Contradictions http://blog.drakengren.com/2005/09/27/santa-and-contradictions/ The place for me to turn abstract stuff into concrete (!). Mon, 16 May 2011 13:06:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Thomas Drakengren http://blog.drakengren.com/2005/09/27/santa-and-contradictions/#comment-50 Tue, 27 Sep 2005 20:02:18 +0000 http://conceptualintegrity.wordpress.com/2005/09/27/santa-and-contradictions/#comment-50 Right, your “proof” is simpler than mine!
And I agree, the book by Boolos and Jeffrey’s is just so very beautiful. That is, if you’re able to see through all the ugly details! ;-)

]]> By: Marcus http://blog.drakengren.com/2005/09/27/santa-and-contradictions/#comment-49 Tue, 27 Sep 2005 16:48:01 +0000 http://conceptualintegrity.wordpress.com/2005/09/27/santa-and-contradictions/#comment-49 Since the definition can have a truth value, it can be entirely written in propositional logic.

The statement “S iff (S implies Santa Exists)” has a single propositional model in which S and Santa Exists are true. So the existence of Santa is postulated, which typically makes proving it quite easy.

I actually never liked the “Santa Exists” argument as an introduction to Gödel, but I love the fact that you reminded me of the beautiful Boolos&Jeffrey.

It is sad that most modern books on Mathematical Logic just juggle syntax.

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