Undecidability of the problem of recognizing axiomatizations for implicative propositional calculi

Abstract

In this paper we consider propositional calculi, which are finitely axiomatizable extensions of intuitionistic implicational propositional calculus together with the rules of modus ponens and substitution. We give a proof of undecidability of the following problem for these calculi: whether a given finite set of propositional formulas constitutes an adequate axiom system for a fixed propositional calculus. Moreover, we prove the same for the following restriction of this problem: whether a given finite set of theorems of a fixed propositional calculus derives all theorems of this calculus. The proof of these results is based on a reduction of the undecidable halting problem for the tag systems introduced by Post.