(* Title: ZF/Constructible/MetaExists.thy
Author: Lawrence C Paulson, Cambridge University Computer Laboratory
*)
section\<open>The meta-existential quantifier\<close>
theory MetaExists imports ZF begin
text\<open>Allows quantification over any term. Used to quantify over classes.
Yields a proposition rather than a FOL formula.\<close>
definition
ex :: "(('a::{}) \<Rightarrow> prop) \<Rightarrow> prop" (binder \<open>\<Or>\<close> 0) where
"ex(P) == (\<And>Q. (\<And>x. PROP P(x) \<Longrightarrow> PROP Q) \<Longrightarrow> PROP Q)"
lemma meta_exI: "PROP P(x) ==> (\<Or>x. PROP P(x))"
proof (unfold ex_def)
assume P: "PROP P(x)"
fix Q
assume PQ: "\<And>x. PROP P(x) \<Longrightarrow> PROP Q"
from P show "PROP Q" by (rule PQ)
qed
lemma meta_exE: "[|\<Or>x. PROP P(x); \<And>x. PROP P(x) ==> PROP R |] ==> PROP R"
proof (unfold ex_def)
assume QPQ: "\<And>Q. (\<And>x. PROP P(x) \<Longrightarrow> PROP Q) \<Longrightarrow> PROP Q"
assume PR: "\<And>x. PROP P(x) \<Longrightarrow> PROP R"
from PR show "PROP R" by (rule QPQ)
qed
end