Suppose, towards a contradiction, that . Then is a ground-model set by axiom schema of separation. It is dense. If , it already lies in . If , atomless forcing order structure gives incompatible forcing conditions . Both cannot belong to the directed filter , so at least one is a strengthening of in .
All compatibility and extension quantifiers range over the same ground-model set , so this density argument is also valid internally in the transitive model . Genericity requires , contradicting the definition of . Therefore a generic filter for an atomless order is new:
The assumption is essential: a forcing atom determines a ground-model generic filter. For an atom , the conditions compatible with form a generic filter : two such conditions have strengthenings below , which have a common strengthening by the atom property; every dense set has a member below . In a general partial order, need not be the principal filter above .
The principal filter in an ordered set generated by contains exactly the elements above . It is upward closed, and is a common lower bound in the filter for any two of its members. With standard notation for forcing, these are the conditions weaker than . The principal filter need not be a generic filter: a dense set can require a strict strengthening. The compatible-condition filter in a forcing atom determines a ground-model generic filter includes strengthenings as well as weakenings and can therefore be strictly larger.