Degrees of the finite model property: the antidichotomy theorem

Guram Bezhanishvili, Nick Bezhanishvili, Tommaso Moraschini

Published 2023-07-14Version 1

A classic result in modal logic, known as the Blok Dichotomy Theorem, states that the degree of incompleteness of a normal extension of the basic modal logic $\sf K$ is $1$ or $2^{\aleph_0}$. It is a long-standing open problem whether Blok Dichotomy holds for normal extensions of other prominent modal logics (such as $\sf S4$ or $\sf K4$) or for extensions of the intuitionistic propositional calculus $\mathsf{IPC}$. In this paper, we introduce the notion of the degree of finite model property (fmp), which is a natural variation of the degree of incompleteness. It is a consequence of Blok Dichotomy Theorem that the degree of fmp of a normal extension of $\sf K$ remains $1$ or $2^{\aleph_0}$. In contrast, our main result establishes the following Antidichotomy Theorem for the degree of fmp for extensions of $\mathsf{IPC}$: each nonzero cardinal $\kappa$ such that $\kappa \leq \aleph_0$ or $\kappa = 2^{\aleph_0}$ is realized as the degree of fmp of some extension of $\mathsf{IPC}$. We then use the Blok-Esakia theorem to establish the same Antidichotomy Theorem for normal extensions of $\sf S4$ and $\sf K4$.