[Math] The set of all sets of the universe

elementary-set-theory

I can't understand Russell's paradox. What I understand is that Russell's paradox arises because the set of all sets that are members of themselves is empty. That it's impossible to find a set that's a member of itself, but one can define the set of all sets of the universe that clearly contain itself. Does it mean that there is no set of all sets of the universe?

Please, make answers as simple as possible, I'm nearly ignorant in set theory.

Best Answer

Russell's paradox, as well other paradoxes (Cantor's paradox, Burali-Forti paradox) simply tell us that some collections that we can define are not sets. There are two ways to overcome these things:

  1. In modern set theory such as ZFC (Zermelo-Fraenkel with Choice) the collection of all sets is not a set. This is why there is a notion of class, it simply means a collection which we can define. In the case of "all the sets" we just define it to be $\{x\mid x=x\}$.

  2. There are, however, set theories in which the collection of all sets is a set. One example is NF (New Foundations). In this theory we limit the formulas which define new sets, and so Russell's collection cannot become a set. This means that we cannot prove from NF that the collection defined by Russell's paradox is a set itself, so no contradiction arises.


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