# In ZFC, which axioms of set are not required to class?

In Set Theory , Thomas Jech says

Classes

Although we work in ZFC which, unlike alternative axiomatic set theories, has only one type of object, namely sets, we introduce the informal notion of a class. We do this for practical reasons: It is easier to manipulate classes than formulas.

Sadly I don't get the difference between them. My question actually is:

Set is defined by the axioms of ZFC. Which axioms of set are required on class, which are not?

Axioms of Zermelo-Fraenkel from Jech's book:

1.1. Axiom of Extensionality. If X and Y have the same elements, then X=Y.

1.2. Axiom of Pairing. For any a and b there exists a set {a,b} that contains exactly a and b.

1.3. Axiom Schema of Separation. If P is a property (with parameter p), then for any X and p there exists a set $Y = \{u ∈ X : P(u,p)\}$ that contains all those u ∈ X that have property P .

1.4. Axiom of Union. For any X there exists a set $Y = \cup X$, the union of all elements of X.

1.5. Axiom of Power Set. For any X there exists a set Y = P(X), the set of all subsets of X.

1.6. Axiom of Infinity. There exists an infinite set.

1.7. Axiom Schema of Replacement. If a class F is a function, then for any X there exists a set Y = F(X) = {F(x) : x ∈ X}.

1.8. Axiom of Regularity. Every nonempty set has an ∈-minimal element. 1.9. Axiom of Choice. Every family of nonempty sets has a choice function.

The theory with axioms 1.1–1.8 is the Zermelo-Fraenkel axiomatic set theory ZF; ZFC denotes the theory ZF with the Axiom of Choice.

Definition of class, also from Jech's book:

If $φ(x,p_1,...,p_n)$ is a formula, we call $C = \{x : φ(x,p1,...,pn)\}$ a class. Members of the class C are all those sets x that satisfy $φ(x,p_1, . . . , p_n)$:

x ∈ C if and only if $φ(x,p_1,...,p_n)$.

Note here the definition is by formula, not by axioms, this is where I'm lost.

There are similar posts on MSE, but I'm still not sure

In Difference between a class and a set , Sylvain's answer says

The powerset axiom is the main exception, the one axiom that cannot be properly justified.

OK, so Axiom of Powerset is out. How about others?

the axioms of Set Theory apply only to sets and not to classes.

Also in Difference between a set and a class , Asaf says:

Sets are elements of the model of set theory, and they have to satisfy the axioms, e.g. the axiom of power set. Classes are collections of elements from a model of set theory, but they don't have to correspond to any element in the model, and they don't have to obey the axioms.

Does this mean all the axioms above are not applicable to classes? Then what shall the actions on classes be restrict to?

• Possible duplicate: math.stackexchange.com/questions/139330/… and math.stackexchange.com/questions/1099797/… – JMoravitz Mar 7 '15 at 5:38
• Your question title is almost the same as that of two questions that have already been answered in the site. Please use the search system next time. In fact, when you type up your question, these two should have popped right in the middle of your screen, like this. – Pedro Tamaroff Mar 7 '15 at 6:26
• @JMoravitz thanks for the links – athos Mar 7 '15 at 7:02
• @Pedro-Tamaroff thanks for the links, but actually my question is a bit different: I'm asking which axioms of ZFC set theory are required to classes, which are not. I just updated the question. – athos Mar 7 '15 at 7:02
• Classes are not special sets, so the axioms of ZFC cannot be applied to them. As Jech says, classes are instead logical formulas. So the things you can do to them are more or less the things you can do to logical formulas. – Zhen Lin Mar 7 '15 at 8:07

Short Question (quote) "Does this mean all the axioms above are not applicable to classes? Then what shall the actions on classes be restrict to?"

Yes, all of the axioms of ZFC are not applicable to classes. This is because the axioms are only interested in sets; i.e. not proper classes.

Think of classes as the collection of sets which satisfy a given formula. The "actions on classes" you speak of is essentially "logic manipulation of formulas"

Long Answer: Restricted Comprehension vs Unrestricted Comprehension

The axiom that's closely related to the notion of classes is the "axiom of specification" which you can describe as "restricted comprehension" because it's only when we're given a set that we can apply a formula to restrict it down to the elements that satisfy the formula.

This is opposed to restricting the class of all sets "$\{x:x=x\}$" to those which satisfy a given formula "$\{ x:\phi(x) \}$"; i.e. unrestricted comprehension.

Brief review (I'm assuming you know what a general formula is in the context of first-order languages; my definition below may seem to be circular, but I don't want to have to formally define "formula" as opposed to "formula in Set Theory"):

You could describe classes by a single "meta-axiom." Keep in mind that in Set Theory the domain of discourse is the collection of all sets (i.e. the axioms only refer to sets), but by introducing this new "meta-axiom" the domain of discourse is implicitly expanded to include classes; more concretely, the quantifiers $\exists$ and $\forall$ now range over classes as well as sets (Note: you're no longer in ZFC).

Meta-Axiom Class Comprehension For each formula $\phi(x)$, there exists a class whose elements are exactly those sets $x$ such that $\phi(x)$ holds: $$\forall v_1,\ldots,v_n\exists C\forall X\Big[X \text{ is a set}\Rightarrow [X\in C\Leftrightarrow \psi(X,v_1,\ldots,v_n)]\Big].$$

Remarks: This answer I propose is not explicitly stated in any Set Theory text I have read. Instead, I understood it implicitly by the purpose of axioms to begin with. It all started with Bertrand Russell's Paradox that "There exists no set of all sets." In other words, we're forced to restrict our comprehension of sets to that of the axiom of specification. To remediate our restricted comprehension we introduce more axioms that state which sets exist.

• Your "meta-axiom" at the end is exactly the class comprehension axiom of Morse-Kelley set theory. – Henning Makholm Sep 12 '15 at 10:50

Difference of sets and classes is that you have no restriction as to how big a class can be.Namely the weaker version of comprehension axiom holds and enables you to collect all objects with some property into one class,while that is not possible with sets.

For example there is class of all ordinals but there no set of all ordinals because it would lead to contradiction according to Burali-Forti theorem.

Another example is set of all sets.While there is no set of all sets,there is a class of all sets.

All axioms that hold in ZFC also hold in NBG(Neumann–Bernays–Gödel) set theory where classes are accepted as first level objects.

Also accepting classes in ZFC so that you dont have to mess with formulas is very possitive abuse of concepts because it enables you to state some generalities about ordinals in simple manner.