impredicativeadj.
/ɪmˈprɛdɪkətɪv/ Of a proposition, thing, etc.: not definable except in terms of a totality of which it is itself a part.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > an explanation, definition > [adjective] > capable of definition > by totality
impredicative1937
1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap Logical Syntax Lang. iv. §44. 162 A thing is usually called impredicative (in the material mode of speech) when it is defined (or can only be defined) with the help of a totality to which it itself belongs.
1944 K. Gödel in P. A. Schilpp Philos. B. Russell ii. iii. 138 What an impredicative definition would require is to construct a notion by a combination of a set of notions to which the notion to be formed itself belongs.
1963 W. V. Quine Set Theory §34. 242 He [sc. Poincaré] called the suspect procedure impredicative.
Derivatives
imˈpredicatively adv.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > an explanation, definition > [adverb] > by totality
impredicatively1965
1965 C. D. Parsons in M. Black Philos. in Amer. 196 Such extensions..allow impredicatively defined classes.
impredicaˈtivity n. the state or quality of being impredicative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > meaning > explanation, exposition > an explanation, definition > [noun] > capacity for definition > by totality
impredicativity1965
1965 C. D. Parsons in M. Black Philos. in Amer. 197 This can only be because the mathematics itself involves impredicativity.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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adj.1937