Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 January 2016
The main purpose of the present paper is to introduce a new understanding of formal theories.
It has been a traditional pattern of formal theories to presuppose a logic and an axiom system for each formal theory. The axiom system of any formal theory consists of a finite number of axiom schemata in general, but occasionally it can be regarded as consisting of a finite number of axioms. I will call any formal theory of this kind an axiomatic theory or an axiom-schematic theory according as its axiom system is regarded as consisting of a finite number of axioms or as consisting of a finite number of axiom schemata.