Isabelle/HOL/GST: A Formal Proof Environment for Generalized Set Theories

Abstract: A generalized set theory (GST) is like a standard set theory but also can have non-set structured objects that can contain other structured objects including sets. This paper presents Isabelle/HOL support for GSTs, which are treated as type classes that combine features that specify kinds of mathematical objects, e.g., sets, ordinal numbers, functions, etc. GSTs can have an exception feature that eases representing partial functions and undefinedness. When assembling a GST, extra axioms are generated following a user-modifiable policy to fill specification gaps. Specialized type-like predicates called soft types are used extensively. Although a GST can be used without a model, for confidence in its consistency we build a model for each GST from components that specify each feature's contribution to each tier of a von-Neumann-style cumulative hierarchy defined via ordinal recursion, and we then connect the model to a separate type which the GST occupies.