Abstract

The general notions of object- and metalanguage are discussed and as a special case of this relation an arbitrary first order language with an infinite model is expanded by a predicate symbol T0 which is interpreted as truth predicate for . Then the expanded language is again augmented by a new truth predicate T1 for the whole language plus T0. This process is iterated into the transfinite to obtain the Tarskian hierarchy of languages. It is shown that there are natural points for stopping this process. The sets which become definable in suitable hierarchies are investigated, so that the relevance of the Tarskian hierarchy to some subjects of philosophy of mathematics are clarified.