Abstract

It is shown that the 3-stratifiable sentences are equivalent in $\mathit{NFU}$ to truth-functional combinations of sentences about objects, sets of objects, sets of sets of objects, and sentences stating that there are at least $n$ urelements. This is then used to characterize the closed 3-stratifiable theorems of $\mathit{NFU}$ with an externally infinite number of urelements, as those that can be nearly proved in $\mathit{TTU}$ with an externally infinite number of urelements. As a byproduct we obtain a rather simple demonstration of the consistency of 3-stratifiable extensions of $\mathit{NFU}$