In this note we study a counterpart in predicate logic of the notion of logical friendliness, introduced into propositional logic in [15]. The result is a new consequence relation for predicate languages with equality using first-order models. While compactness, interpolation and axiomatizability fail dramatically, several other properties are preserved from the propositional case. Divergence is diminished when the language does not contain equality with its standard interpretation.

Lindström’s theorem obviously fails as a characterization of first-order logic without identity ( $\mathcal {L}_{\omega \omega }^{-} $ ). In this note, we provide a fix: we show that $\mathcal {L}_{\omega \omega }^{-} $ is a maximal abstract logic satisfying a weak form of the isomorphism property (suitable for identity-free languages and studied in [11]), the Löwenheim–Skolem property, and compactness. Furthermore, we show that compactness can be replaced by being recursively enumerable for validity under certain conditions. In the proofs, we (...) use a form of strong upwards Löwenheim–Skolem theorem not available in the framework with identity. (shrink)

The study of structure systems, an abstraction of the concept of first-order structures, is continued. Structure systems have algebraic systems as their algebraic reducts and their relational component consists of a collection of relation systems on the underlying functors. An analog of the expansion of a first-order structure by constants is presented. Furthermore, analogs of the Diagram Lemma and the Reduction Operator Lemma from the theory of equality-free first-order structures are provided in the framework of structure systems. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH (...) Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim). (shrink)