Is the class of models of ZFC minus Replacement for which Replacement fails axiomatisable

model-theoryset-theory

Is there a set of first-order sentences axiomatising exactly the class of models of ZFC without replacement for which one of the replacement axioms fails? Perhaps there is a proof of this with the compactness theorem? I don't know too much about this topic yet.

Thank you !!

Best Answer

No, the compactness theorem plus a result specific to $\mathsf{ZFC}$ prevents this. Suppose $T$ were such a set of sentences. Then the union of $T$ and the replacement scheme is unsatisfiable, so by compactness there must be some set $F$ of finitely many replacement instances such that $T\cup F$ is inconsistent. But this means that, over $\mathsf{ZC}$ (= set theory without replacement), $F$ implies the whole replacement scheme. However, this is known not to be possible; in fact, $\mathsf{ZFC}$ proves the consistency of every extension of $\mathsf{ZC}$ by finitely many replacement instances, so $\mathsf{ZFC}$ is "very far" (via Godel's second incompleteness theorem) from any finite extension of $\mathsf{ZC}$.

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