Satisfaction relations for proper classes: Applications in logic and set theory

Abstract

We develop the theory of partial satisfaction relations for structures that may be proper classes and define a satisfaction predicate appropriate to such structures. We indicate the utility of this theory as a framework for the development of the metatheory of first-order predicate logic and set theory, and we use it to prove that for any recursively enumerable extension T of ZF (Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory) there is a finitely axiomatizable extension T' of GB (von Neumann-Bernays-G\"odel class theory) that is a conservative extension of T. We also prove a conservative extension result that justifies the use of this predicate to characterize ground models for forcing constructions.