Constructing Unprejudiced Extensional Type Theories with Choices via Modalities.

Time-progressing expressions, i.e., expressions that compute to different values over time such as Brouwerian choice sequences or reference cells, are a common feature in many frameworks. For type theories to support such elements, they usually employ sheaf models. In this paper, we provide a general framework in the form of an extensional type theory incorporating various time-progressing elements along with a general possible-worlds forcing interpretation parameterized by modalities. The modalities can, in turn, be instantiated with topological spaces of bars, leading to a general sheaf model. This parameterized construction allows us to capture a distinction between theories that are “agnostic”, i.e., compatible with classical reasoning in the sense that classical axioms can be validated, and those that are “intuitionistic”, i.e., incompatible with classical reasoning in the sense that classical axioms can be proven false. This distinction is made via properties of the modalities selected to model the theory and consequently via the space of bars instantiating the modalities. We further identify a class of time-progressing elements that allows deriving “intuitionistic” theories that include not only choice sequences but also simpler operators, namely reference cells.