A Note on First-Order Arithmetic

This paper describes a system S' obtained by modifying first-order arithmetic to 'parameterise' the individual variables so that under any interpretation of S', the individual variables range over all and only the individuals assigned to the numerals under this interpretation. Since S' contains Peano arithmetic and is recursively axiomatised we can modify Goedel's technique to define a Goedel sentence for S', say (x)R[x]. S' may be shown to be inconsistent since (x)R[x] must be an S' theorem. Since the syntax of S' and S are identical however the inconsistency of S itself is implied by this result.