# An Analysis of An Analysis of Girard's Paradox

While it’s rather difficult to accidentally prove an inconsistency in a well-meaning type theory that isn’t obviously inconsistent (have you ever unintentionally proven that a type corresponding to an ordinal is strictly larger than itself? I didn’t think so), it feels like it’s comparatively easy to add rather innocent features to your type theory that will suddenly make it inconsistent. And there are so many of them! And sometimes it’s the interaction among the features rather than the features themselves that produce inconsistencies.

As it turns out, a lot of the inconsistencies can surface as proofs of what’s known as Hurkens’ paradox [1], which is a simplification of Girard’s paradox [2], which itself is a type-theoretical formulation of the set-theoretical Burali–Forti’s paradox [3]. I won’t claim to deeply understand how any of these paradoxes work, but I’ll present various formulations of Hurkens’ paradox in the context of the most well-known inconsistent features.

### Type in Type

The most common mechanization of Hurkens’ paradox you can find online is using type-in-type, where the type of the universe Type has Type itself as its type, because most proof assistants have ways of turning this check off. We begin with what Hurkens calls a powerful paradoxical universe, which is a type U along with two functions τ : ℘ (℘ U) → U and σ : U → ℘ (℘ U). Conceptually, ℘ X is the powerset of X, implemented as X → Type; τ and σ then form an isomorphism between U and the powerset of its powerset, which is an inconsistency. Hurkens defines U, τ, and σ as follows, mechanized in Agda below.

U : Set
U = ∀ (X : Set) → (℘ (℘ X) → X) → ℘ (℘ X)

τ : ℘ (℘ U) → U
τ t = λ X f p → t (λ x → p (f (x X f)))

σ : U → ℘ (℘ U)
σ s = s U τ


The complete proof can be found at Hurkens.html, but we’ll focus on just these definitions for the remainder of this post.

### Two Impredicative Universe Layers

Hurkens’ original construction of the paradox was done in System U⁻, where there are two impredicative universes, there named * and □. We’ll call ours Set and Set₁, with the following typing rules for function types featuring impredicativity.

Γ ⊢ A : 𝒰
Γ, x: A ⊢ B : Set
────────────────── Π-Set
Γ ⊢ Πx: A. B : Set

Γ ⊢ A : 𝒰
Γ, x: A ⊢ B : Set₁
─────────────────── Π-Set₁
Γ ⊢ Πx: A. B : Set₁


Going back to the type-in-type proof, consider now ℘ (℘ X). By definition, this is (X → Set) → Set; since Set : Set₁, by Π-Set₁, the term has type Set₁, regardless of what the type of X is. Then U = ∀ X → (℘ (℘ X) → X) → ℘ (℘ X) has type Set₁ as well. Because later when defining σ : U → ℘ (℘ U), given a term s : U, we want to apply it to U, the type of X should have the same type as U for σ to type check. The remainder of the proof of inconsistency is unchanged, as it doesn’t involve any explicit universes, although we also have the possibility of lowering the return type of ℘. An impredicative Set₁ above a predicative Set may be inconsistent as well, since we never make use of the impredicativity of Set itself.

℘ : ∀ {ℓ} → Set ℓ → Set₁
℘ {ℓ} S = S → Set

U : Set₁
U = ∀ (X : Set₁) → (℘ (℘ X) → X) → ℘ (℘ X)


Note well that having two impredicative universe layers is not the same thing as having two parallel impredicative universes. For example, by turning on -impredicative-set in Coq, we’d have an impredicative Prop and an impredicative Set, but they are in a sense parallel universes: the type of Prop is Type, not Set. The proof wouldn’t go through in this case, since it relies on the type of the return type of ℘ being impredicative as well. With cumulativity, Prop is a subtype of Set, but this has no influence for our puposes.

### Strong Impredicative Pairs

A strong (dependent) pair is a pair from which we can project its components. An impredicative pair in some impredicative universe 𝒰 is a pair that lives in 𝒰 when either of its components live in 𝒰, regardless of the universe of the other component. It doesn’t matter too much which specific universe is impredicative as long as we can refer to both it and its type, so we’ll suppose for this section that Set is impredicative. The typing rules for the strong impredicative pair are then as follows; we only need to allow the first component of the pair to live in any universe.

Γ ⊢ A : 𝒰
Γ, x: A ⊢ B : Set
──────────────────
Γ ⊢ Σx: A. B : Set

Γ ⊢ a : A
Γ ⊢ b : B[x ↦ a]
─────────────────────
Γ ⊢ (a, b) : Σx: A. B

Γ ⊢ p : Σx: A. B
────────────────
Γ ⊢ fst p : A

Γ ⊢ p : Σx: A. B
────────────────────────
Γ ⊢ snd p : B[x ↦ fst p]

Γ ⊢ (a, b) : Σx: A. B
──────────────────────
Γ ⊢ fst (a, b) ≡ a : A

Γ ⊢ (a, b) : Σx: A. B
─────────────────────────────
Γ ⊢ snd (a, b) ≡ b : B[x ↦ a]


If we turn type-in-type off in the previous example, the first place where type checking fails is for U, which with predicative universes we would expect to have type Set₁. The idea, then, is to squeeze U into the lower universe Set using the impredicativity of the pair, then to extract the element of U as needed using the strongness of the pair. Notice that we don’t actually need the second component of the pair, which we can trivially fill in with ⊤. This means we could instead simply use the following record type in Agda.

record Lower (A : Set₁) : Set where
constructor lower
field raise : A


The type Lower A is equivalent to Σx: A. ⊤, its constructor lower a is equivalent to (a, tt), and the projection raise is equivalent to fst. To allow type checking this definition, we need to again turn on type-in-type, despite never actually exploiting it. If we really want to make sure we really never make use of type-in-type, we can postulate Lower, lower, and raise, and use rewrite rules to recover the computational behaviour of the projection.

{-# OPTIONS --rewriting #-}

postulate
Lower : (A : Set₁) → Set
lower : ∀ {A} → A → Lower A
raise : ∀ {A} → Lower A → A
beta : ∀ {A} {a : A} → raise (lower a) ≡ a

{-# REWRITE beta #-}


Refactoring the existing proof is straightforward: any time an element of U is used, it must first be raised back to its original universe, and any time an element of U is produced, it must be lowered down to the desired universe.

U : Set
U = Lower (∀ (X : Set) → (℘ (℘ X) → X) → ℘ (℘ X))

τ : ℘ (℘ U) → U
τ t = lower (λ X f p → t (λ x → p (f (raise x X f))))

σ : U → ℘ (℘ U)
σ s = raise s U τ


Again, the complete proof can be found at HurkensLower.html. One final thing to note is that impredicativity (with respect to function types) of Set isn’t used either; all of this code type checks in Agda, whose universe Set is not impredicative. This means that impredicativity with respect to strong pair types alone is sufficient for inconsistency.

### Unrestricted Large Elimination of Impredicative Universes

In contrast to strong pairs, weak (impredicative) pairs don’t have first and second projections. Instead, to use a pair, one binds its components in the body of some expression (continuing our use of an impredicative Set).

Γ ⊢ p : Σx: A. B
Γ, x: A, y: B ⊢ e : C
Γ ⊢ C : Set
────────────────────────────
Γ ⊢ let (x, y) := p in e : C


The key difference is that the type of the expression must live in Set, and not in any arbitrary universe. Therefore, we can’t generally define our own first projection function, since A might not live in Set.

Weak impredicative pairs can be generalized to inductive types in an impredicative universe, where the restriction becomes disallowing arbitrary large elimination to retain consistency. This appears in the typing rule for case expressions on inductives.

Γ ⊢ t : I p… a…
Γ ⊢ I p… : (y: u)… → 𝒰
Γ, y: u, …, x: I p… a… ⊢ P : 𝒰'
elim(𝒰, 𝒰') holds
< other premises omitted >
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Γ ⊢ case t return λy…. λx. P of [c x… ⇒ e]… : P[y… ↦ a…][x ↦ t]


The side condition elim(𝒰, 𝒰') holds if:

• 𝒰 = Set₁ or higher; or
• 𝒰 = 𝒰' = Set; or
• 𝒰 = Set and
• Its constructors’ arguments are either forced or have types living in Set; and
• The fully-applied constructors have orthogonal types; and
• Recursive appearances of the inductive type in the constructors’ types are syntactically guarded.

The three conditions of the final case come from the rules for definitionally proof-irrelevant Prop [4]; the conditions that Coq uses are that the case target’s inductive type must be a singleton or empty, which is a subset of those three conditions. As the pair constructor contains a non-forced, potentially non-Set argument in the first component, impredicative pairs can only be eliminated to terms whose types are in Set, which is exactly what characterizes the weak impredicative pair. On the other hand, allowing unrestricted large elimination lets us define not only strong impredicative pairs, but also Lower (and the projection raise), both as inductive types.

While impredicative functions can Church-encode weak impredicative pairs, they can’t encode strong ones.

Σx: A. B ≝ (P : Set) → ((x : A) → B → P) → P


If Set is impredicative then the pair type itself lives in Set, but if A lives in a larger universe, then it can’t be projected out of the pair, which requires setting P as A.

There’s a variety of other features that yield inconsistencies in other ways, some of them resembling the set-theoretical Russell’s paradox.

### Negative Inductive Types

A negative inductive type is one where the inductive type appears to the left of an odd number of arrows in a constructor’s type. For instance, the following definition will allow us to derive an inconsistency.

record Bad : Set where


The field of a Bad essentially contains a negation of Bad itself (and I believe this is why this is considered a “negative” type). So when given a Bad, applying it to its own field, we obtain its negation.

notBad : Bad → ⊥


Then from the negation of Bad we construct a Bad, which we apply to its negation to obtain an inconsistency.

bottom : ⊥


### Positive Inductive Types

This section is adapted from Why must inductive types be strictly positive?.

A positive inductive type is one where the inductive type appears to the left of an even number of arrows in a constructor’s type. (Two negatives cancel out to make a positive, I suppose.) If it’s restricted to appear to the left of no arrows (0 is an even number), it’s a strictly positive inductive type. Strict positivity is the usual condition imposed on all inductive types in Coq. If instead we allow positive inductive types in general, when combined with an impredicative universe (we’ll use Set again), we can define an inconsistency corresponding to Russell’s paradox.

{-# NO_POSITIVITY_CHECK #-}


From this definition, we can prove an injection from ℘ Bad to Bad via an injection from ℘ Bad to ℘ (℘ Bad) defined as a partially-applied equality type.

f : ℘ Bad → Bad
f p = mkBad (_≡ p)

fInj : ∀ {p q} → f p ≡ f q → p ≡ q
fInj {p} fp≡fq = subst (λ p≡ → p≡ p) (badInj fp≡fq) refl
where


Evidently an injection from a powerset of some X to X itself should be an inconsistency. However, it doesn’t appear to be provable without using some sort of impredicativity. (We’ll see.) Coquand and Paulin [5] use the following definitions in their proof, which does not type check without type-in-type, since ℘ Bad otherwise does not live in Set. In this case, weak impredicative pairs would suffice, since the remaining definitions can all live in the same impredicative universe.

P₀ : ℘ Bad
P₀ x = Σ[ P ∈ ℘ Bad ] x ≡ f P × ¬ (P x)

x₀ = f P₀


From here, we can prove P₀ x₀ ↔ ¬ P₀ x₀. The rest of the proof can be found at Positivity.html.

### Impredicativity + Excluded Middle + Large Elimination

Another type-theoretic encoding of Russell’s paradox is Berardi’s paradox [6]. It begins with a retraction, which looks like half an isomorphism.

record _◁_ {ℓ} (A B : Set ℓ) : Set ℓ where
constructor _,_,_
field
ϕ : A → B
ψ : B → A
retract : ψ ∘ ϕ ≡ id
open _◁_


We can easily prove A ⊲ B → A ⊲ B by identity. If we postulate the axiom of choice, then we can push the universal quantification over A ⊲ B into the existential quantification of A ⊲ B, yielding a ϕ and a ψ such that ψ ∘ ϕ ≡ id only when given some proof of A ⊲ B. However, a retraction of powersets can be stipulated out of thin air using only the axiom of excluded middle.

record _◁′_ {ℓ} (A B : Set ℓ) : Set ℓ where
constructor _,_,_
field
ϕ : A → B
ψ : B → A
retract : A ◁ B → ψ ∘ ϕ ≡ id
open _◁′_

postulate
EM : ∀ {ℓ} (A : Set ℓ) → A ⊎ (¬ A)

t : ∀ {ℓ} (A B : Set ℓ) → ℘ A ◁′ ℘ B
t A B with EM (℘ A ◁ ℘ B)
... | inj₁  ℘A◁℘B =
let ϕ , ψ , retract = ℘A◁℘B
in ϕ , ψ , λ _ → retract
... | inj₂ ¬℘A◁℘B =
(λ _ _ → ⊥) , (λ _ _ → ⊥) , λ ℘A◁℘B → ⊥-elim (¬℘A◁℘B ℘A◁℘B)



This time defining U to be ∀ X → ℘ X, we can show that ℘ U is a retract of U. Here, we need an impredicative Set so that U can also live in Set and so that U quantifies over itself as well. Note that we project the equality out of the record while the record is impredicative, so putting _≡_ in Set as well will help us avoid large eliminations for now.

projᵤ : U → ℘ U
projᵤ u = u U

injᵤ : ℘ U → U
injᵤ f X =
let _ , ψ , _ = t X U
ϕ , _ , _ = t U U
in ψ (ϕ f)

projᵤ∘injᵤ : projᵤ ∘ injᵤ ≡ id
projᵤ∘injᵤ = retract (t U U) (id , id , refl)


Now onto Russell’s paradox. Defining _∈_ to be projᵤ and letting r ≝ injᵤ (λ u → ¬ u ∈ u), we can show a curious inconsistent statement.

r∈r≡r∉r : r ∈ r ≡ (¬ r ∈ r)
r∈r≡r∉r = cong (λ f → f (λ u → ¬ u ∈ u) r) projᵤ∘injᵤ


To actually derive an inconsistency, we can derive functions r ∈ r → (¬ r ∈ r) and (¬ r ∈ r) → r ∈ r using substitution, then prove falsehood the same way we did for negative inductive types. However, the predicate in the substitution is Set → Set, which itself has type Set₁, so these final steps do require unrestricted large elimination. The complete proof can be found at Berardi.html.

## Summary

The combinations of features that yield inconsistencies are:

• Type-in-type: · ⊢ Set : Set
• Impredicative Set and Set₁ where · ⊢ Set : Set₁
• Strong impredicative pairs
• Impredicative inductive types + unrestricted large elimination
• Negative inductive types
• Non-strictly-positive inductive types + impredicativity
• Impredicativity + excluded middle + unrestricted large elimination

## Source Files

Hurkens' paradox using Lower: HurkensLower.html

Russell's paradox using a positive inductive type and impredicative pairs: Positivity.html
Berardi's paradox using impredicativity, excluded middle, and large elimination: Berardi.html

## References

[1] Hurkens, Antonius J. C. (1995). A Simplification of Girard’s Paradox. doi:10.1007/BFb0014058.
[2] Coquand, Thierry. (1986). An Analysis of Girard’s Paradox. https://hal.inria.fr/inria-00076023.
[3] Burali–Forti, Cesare. (1897). Una questione sui numeri transfini. doi:10.1007/BF03015911.
[4] Gilbert, Gaëtan; Cockx, Jesper; Sozeau, Matthieu; Tabareau, Nicolas. (2019). Definitional Proof-Irrelevance without K. doi:10.1145/3290316.
[5] Coquand, Theirry; Paulin, Christine. Inductively defined types. doi:10.1007/3-540-52335-9_47.
[6] Barbanera, Franco; Berardi, Stefano. Proof-irrelevance out of excluded middle and choice in the calculus of constructions. doi:10.1017/S0956796800001829