Self-referentiality in Justification Logic

Abstract

The Logic of Proofs, LP, and other justification logics can have self-referential justifications of the form t:A. Such self-referential justifications are necessary for the realization of S4 in LP. Yu discovered prehistoric cycles in a particular Gentzen system as a necessary condition for S4 theorems that can only be realized using self-referentiality. It was an open problem whether prehistoric cycles also are a sufficient condition. The main results of this paper are: First, with the standard definition of self-referential theorems, prehistoric cycles are not a sufficient condition. Second, with an expansion on that definition, prehistoric cycles become sufficient for self-referential theorems.