The Genetic Versus Axiomatic Method
The following is an example of the genetic or constructive method of making objects in a system, the other being the axiomatic or postulational method. Kleene states that a genetic method is intended to "generate" all the objects of the system and thereby "determine the abstract structure of the system completely" and uniquely (and thus define the system categorically). If axioms rather than a genetic method is used, such axiom-sets are said to be categorical.
Unlike the ∫ example above, the following creates an unbounded number of objects. The fact that O is a set, and □ is an element of O, and ■ is an operation, must be specified at the outset; this is being done in the language of the metatheory (see below):
- Given the system ( O, □, ■ ): O = { □, ■□, ■■□, ■■■□, ■■■■□, ■■■■■□, ..., ■n□, etc. }
Read more about this topic: Object Theory
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