Source: A Concise Introduction to Logic (12 Ed, 2014) by Patrick Hurley
[p 464:] Since, however, the first eight of these rules [of Inference] [hereafter ROI] are applicable only to whole lines in an argument, as long as the quantifier is attached to a line these rules of inference cannot be applied—at least not to the kind of arguments we are about to consider. To provide for their application, four additional rules are required to remove quantifiers at the beginning of a proof sequence and to introduce them, when needed, at the end of the sequence. These four rules are called universal instantiation, universal generalization, existential instantiation, and existential generalization. The first two are used to remove and introduce universal quantifiers, respectively, and the second two to remove and introduce existential quantifiers.
[p 466:] As the two previous examples illustrate, we have two ways of performing universal instantiation [hereafter abbreviated to UI]. On the one hand, we may instantiate with respect to a
constant, such as a or b, and on the other, with respect to avariable, such as x or y. The exact way in which this operation is to be performed depends on the kind of result intended. If we want some part of a universal statement to match a singular statement on another line, as in the first example, we instantiate with respect to a constant. But if, at the end of the proof, we want to perform universal generalization over some part of the statement we are instantiating, then we must instantiate by using a variable. This latter point leads to an important restriction governing universal generalization—namely, that we cannot perform this operation when the instantial letter is a constant. [...][p 469:] In the formulation that follows, the symbols ℱx and ℱy represent any statement function—that is, any symbolic arrangement containing individual variables, such as Ax ⊃ Bx, Cy ⊃ (Dy ⋁ Ey), or Gz ● Hz. The symbol ℱa represents any statement; that is, any symbolic arrangement containing individual constants (or names), such as Ac ⊃ Bc, Cm ⊃ (Dm ⋁ Em), or Gw ● Hw. And the symbol ℱ is a predicate variable that represents any predicate such as F, G, or H.* (*Some textbooks use Greek letters such as φ (phi) χ (chi) and ψ (psi) in the place of ℱ to express these and other rules.)
- Universal instantiation (UI):
(x)ℱx [...]
—
ℱy
I ask about only UI of a Variable, and not of a Constant.
Besides the notation, does (x)ℱx differ from ℱy? If so, how?
I wish to verify my inference that rewriting (x)ℱx as ℱy accomplishes only one objective: to enable the application of the ROI to arguments, because (per p 464 above) ROI cannot be applied to Statements with Quantifiers (eg: (x)ℱx), but only to Statements without Quantifiers (eg: ℱy).
