Support is Search

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Gheorghiu, Alexander V.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866912964873814016
author Gheorghiu, Alexander V.
author_facet Gheorghiu, Alexander V.
contents Sandqvist's base-extension semantics for intuitionistic propositional logic defines a support relation parametrised by atomic bases, with validity identified as support in every base. Sandqvist's completeness theorem answers the global question: which formulae are valid? This paper addresses the local question: given a fixed base, what does support in that base correspond to? We show that support in a fixed base coincides with proof-search in a second-order hereditary Harrop logic program, via an encoding of formulae as logic-programming goals. This encoding proceeds by reading the semantic clauses in continuation-passing style, revealing that the universal quantifiers over base extensions and atoms appearing in those clauses are not domain-ranging quantifiers over a completed totality, but eigenvariables governed by a standard freshness discipline. Base-extension semantics thereby admits a fully constructive and computationally transparent interpretation: support is proof-search. The result complements Sandqvist's global theorem with a local correspondence, vindicates the anti-realist foundations of the framework on its own terms, and opens the way for implementing the semantics in modelling tasks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_13018
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Support is Search
Gheorghiu, Alexander V.
Logic in Computer Science
Logic
Sandqvist's base-extension semantics for intuitionistic propositional logic defines a support relation parametrised by atomic bases, with validity identified as support in every base. Sandqvist's completeness theorem answers the global question: which formulae are valid? This paper addresses the local question: given a fixed base, what does support in that base correspond to? We show that support in a fixed base coincides with proof-search in a second-order hereditary Harrop logic program, via an encoding of formulae as logic-programming goals. This encoding proceeds by reading the semantic clauses in continuation-passing style, revealing that the universal quantifiers over base extensions and atoms appearing in those clauses are not domain-ranging quantifiers over a completed totality, but eigenvariables governed by a standard freshness discipline. Base-extension semantics thereby admits a fully constructive and computationally transparent interpretation: support is proof-search. The result complements Sandqvist's global theorem with a local correspondence, vindicates the anti-realist foundations of the framework on its own terms, and opens the way for implementing the semantics in modelling tasks.
title Support is Search
topic Logic in Computer Science
Logic
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.13018