First-Order Modal Semantics and Existence Predicate

Abstract

In the article we study the existence predicate \(\varepsilon\) in the context of semantics for first-order modal logic. For a formula \(\varphi\) we define \(\varphi^{\varepsilon}\) - the so called existence relativization. We point to a gap in the work of Fitting and Mendelsohn concerning the relationship between the truth of \(\varphi\) and \(\varphi^{\varepsilon}\) in classes of varying- and constant-domain models. We introduce operations on models which allow us to fill the gap and provide a more general perspective on the issue. As a result we obtain a series of theorems describing the logical connection between the notion of truth of a formula with the existence predicate in constant-domain models and the notion of truth of a formula without the existence predicate in varying-domain models.

Keywords

• first-order modal logic
• constant-domain model
• varying-domain model
• existence predicate