Filter on a set

Let $X$ be a set. A family $\mathcal{F}\subseteq \mathcal{P}(X)$ of subsets of $X$ (The power set $\mathcal{P}(x)=\{z:z\subseteq x\}$, Subset $x\subseteq y$, proper subset $x⊊y$, and the separation notation $\{z\in x:\phi (z)\}$) is a filter on $X$ when it satisfies:

• (F1) nontriviality: $X\in \mathcal{F}$;
• (F2) properness: $\mathrm{\varnothing }\mathrm{\notin }\mathcal{F}$;
• (F3) closure under pairwise intersection (The intersection $\bigcap x$ of a nonempty set, the binary intersection $a\cap b:=\bigcap \{a,b\}$, and disjointness): if $A,B\in \mathcal{F}$ then $A\cap B\in \mathcal{F}$;
• (F4) upward closure in $X$: if $A\in \mathcal{F}$ and $A\subseteq B\subseteq X$ then $B\in \mathcal{F}$.

The set of all filters on $X$ is written $\mathrm{F}\mathrm{i}\mathrm{l}\mathrm{t}(X)$. It is a subset of $\mathcal{P}(\mathcal{P}(X))$, hence a set, and it is ordered by inclusion: $\mathcal{F}\subseteq \mathcal{G}$ is read "$\mathcal{G}$ is finer than $\mathcal{F}$", and $\mathcal{F}$ is coarser than $\mathcal{G}$.

Convention: filters are proper. Condition (F2) is part of the definition throughout this library, so "filter" always means "proper filter". The competing convention drops (F2), calls the resulting objects filters, and says proper filter for one that omits $\mathrm{\varnothing }$. The two conventions differ by exactly one object, since (F4) forces any family satisfying (F1), (F3) and (F4) that contains $\mathrm{\varnothing }$ to be all of $\mathcal{P}(X)$: if $\mathrm{\varnothing }\in \mathcal{F}$ then $\mathrm{\varnothing }\subseteq B\subseteq X$ gives $B\in \mathcal{F}$ for every $B\subseteq X$. That single extra object is the improper filter $\mathcal{P}(X)$. This library follows the more widely adopted convention, in which the improper filter is not a filter; a reader arriving from the other convention should read every unqualified "filter" below as "proper filter".

• The intuition is "large". Read $A\in \mathcal{F}$ as "$A$ is a large subset of $X$", where largeness is relative to $\mathcal{F}$. Then (F1) says the whole space is large, (F2) says the empty set is not, (F3) says two large sets overlap largely, and (F4) says a superset of a large set is large. Properness is what stops "large" from being vacuous: without (F2) every subset counts as large and the notion carries no information, which is the mathematical reason the improper filter is excluded rather than a matter of taste.
• $X\mathrm{\ne }\mathrm{\varnothing }$ follows. By (F1) the set $X$ belongs to $\mathcal{F}$ and by (F2) the set $\mathrm{\varnothing }$ does not, so $X\mathrm{\ne }\mathrm{\varnothing }$. Equivalently, there are no filters on the empty set: $\mathcal{P}(\mathrm{\varnothing })=\{\mathrm{\varnothing }\}$, and any filter on $\mathrm{\varnothing }$ would have to contain $\mathrm{\varnothing }$ by (F1) and omit it by (F2). No hypothesis "$X\mathrm{\ne }\mathrm{\varnothing }$" is therefore needed anywhere below; it is delivered by the existence of a filter.
• (F3) extends to any finite list of members and not beyond: an intersection of infinitely many members of a filter is usually not a member, and demanding that it be one is a strictly stronger notion. The families that generate filters by finite intersections are exactly those with the finite intersection property (Finite intersection property, A family lies in a filter exactly when it has the finite intersection property).
• Filters are usually presented by a smaller family that they are generated from, a filter base (Filter base and the filter it generates, The upward closure of a filter base is the smallest filter containing it), because writing out every superset is neither possible nor informative.
• The maximal filters under the inclusion order recorded above are the ultrafilters (Ultrafilter), and every filter is contained in one (The ultrafilter lemma, from the Axiom of Choice: every filter extends to an ultrafilter). Maximal here means maximal, not greatest: as soon as $X$ has two distinct points $x\mathrm{\ne }y$ there is no finest filter, since a filter containing every filter would contain the principal filters at $x$ and at $y$, hence both $\{x\}$ and $\{y\}$, hence their intersection $\mathrm{\varnothing }$, which (F2) forbids. Incomparability of those two principal filters is not the reason: incomparable elements are perfectly compatible with a greatest element above them both, and reading "maximal" as "greatest" is the error recorded in FALSE: every maximal element is a greatest element. The argument is set out in Ultrafilter.