Does Choice Really Imply Excluded Middle? Part I: Regimentation of the Goodman–Myhill Result, and Its Immediate Reception†

Abstract

ABSTRACT The one-page 1978 informal proof of Goodman and Myhill is regimented in a weak constructive set theory in free logic. The decidability of identities in general ($a\!=\!b\vee\neg a\!=\!b$) is derived; then, of sentences in general ($\psi\vee\neg\psi$). Martin-Löf’s and Bell’s receptions of the latter result are discussed. Regimentation reveals the form of Choice used in deriving Excluded Middle. It also reveals an abstraction principle that the proof employs. It will be argued that the Goodman–Myhill result does not provide the constructive set theorist with a dispositive reason for not adopting (full) Choice.