Henkin theory 2026-10-31
A Henkin theory has named witnesses for its provable existential sentences. In a Henkin construction, fresh constants and the corresponding Henkin witness axioms give this witness property. Completeness or maximal consistency can be imposed in an additional extension step.
In the presence of equality, two syntactically different closed terms can be asserted equal by the Henkin theory, so the raw first-order term domain from part (b) must be replaced by a quotient set. Define
The equality axioms give reflexivity, symmetry and transitivity, so this is an equivalence relation. Their substitution consequences make it a congruence relation on a first-order structure: replacing an input by an equivalent first-order term preserves equivalence of function values and preserves membership of atomic formulas in .
Take domain . Define a function symbol by , and relations by the same membership test as before using representatives. The congruence relation on a first-order structure makes these definitions independent of representatives. Actual identity of equivalence classes now agrees with the formal equality first-order sentences in :
This supplies the equality case of the truth lemma for a Henkin term model; the logical connective and quantifier cases then proceed exactly as in the Henkin construction. Thus the term model built from the quotient set is a genuine first-order model with equality interpreted as identity.