Is ZFC2 Class Categorical? – Set Theory and Logic

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Let $\mathsf{ZFC_2}$ denote $\mathsf{ZFC}$ with a second-order replacement axiom. It has been discussed in some other answers that every model of $\mathsf{ZFC_2}$ is isomorphic to $V_\kappa$ for some inaccessible cardinal $\kappa$. But it seems to me that the intended "model" of $\mathsf{ZFC}$ is supposed to be the proper class $V$, so it seems natural to ask whether $V$ is unique as a "class model" of $\mathsf{ZFC_2}$ in some sense.

Let's define "class model" to be a model whose underlying "set" is a proper class. And let's define "class categorical" to mean that all class models are isomorphic. Then is $\mathsf{ZFC_2}$ class categorical?


The intuition behind this idea is an analogy with $\mathsf{PA}$. First-order $\mathsf{PA}$ has many distinct non-standard models. But $\mathsf{PA_2}$ is categorical and singles out the informally "intended" model uniquely (up to isomorphism). So the thought is, maybe $\mathsf{ZFC_2}$ does the same for the "intended model" of $\mathsf{ZFC}$. That said, I have no idea what sorts of thorny issues might arise when we try extending models and categoricity to encompass proper classes.

Best Answer

There are some subtleties around class-sized models, but any reasonable approach to handling them will give an affirmative answer to your question if you restrict attention to "locally set-like" models, i.e. models $\mathcal{M}$ for whichevery class of the form $$\{n\in\mathcal{M}: n\in^\mathcal{M}m\}$$ for $m\in\mathcal{M}$ is actually a set.

To see this, we just follow the usual "quasi-categoricity" argument for the set-sized case. By second-order Foundation, $\mathcal{M}$ must be well-founded; by second-order Powerset, after taking a Mostowski collapse (permitted by the well-foundedness we've just established) we must have $V_\alpha^\mathcal{M}=V_\alpha$ for each ordinal $\alpha$. And since $\mathcal{M}$ is class-sized, that leaves only one candidate: $\mathcal{M}=V$.

But this analysis breaks down if we allow $\mathcal{M}$ to not be locally set-like. In particular, the set-like part of $\mathcal{M}\models^{class}\mathsf{ZFC_2}$ will always be (isomorphic to) $V$ itself, but it may be a "proper top extension" of $V$. On the other hand, no such $\mathcal{M}$ will be first-order definable in $V$, so if you restrict attention to definable class models we recover categoricity.

(Note that there are $V$-definable well-founded non-locally-set-like structures; e.g. take $\mathit{Ord}$ with the order that puts $0$ above everything else and otherwise is ordered as usual. So the definability barrier here is nontrivial.)