The Elements of Reasoning

THE ELEMENTS OF REASONING is a concise and lucid introduction to the basic elements of argumentative prose and the conceptual tools necessary to understand, analyze, criticize, and construct arguments. This text is not only perfect for a college course in argument analysis, but also as a reference tool when confronted with arguments outside the classroom experience. While THE ELEMENTS OF REASONING covers the standard formal tools of introductory logic, its emphasis is on practical applications to the kinds of arguments students most often encounter.

Intended to help readers improve their reasoning skills, this textbook begins with a broad discussion of the nature of argument, then classifies different types of arguments, and identifies various ways that arguments can go wrong. It concludes with discussions of linguistic and rhetorical aspects of argument and persuasion. The authors teach philosophy at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Ronald Munson is Professor of the Philosophy of Science and Medicine at the University of Missouri—St. Louis. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and was Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology at Harvard University. He has been Visiting Professor at University of California, San Diego; Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; and Harvard Medical School. A nationally acclaimed bioethicist, Munson is a medical ethicist for the National Eye Institute and a consultant for the National Cancer Institute. He is also a member of the Washington University School of Medicine Human Research Protection Committee and is Associate Editor of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SURGERY. Munson's most recent book is THE WOMEN WHO DECIDED TO DIE: CHALLENGES AND CHOICES AT THE EDGES OF MEDICINE. His other books include RAISING THE DEAD: ORGAN TRANSPLANTS, ETHICS, AND SOCIETY (named a Best Book in Science and Medicine" by the National Library Association); REASONING IN MEDICINE (with Daniel Albert, and Michael Resnik); ELEMENTS OF REASONING, Sixth Edition (with Andrew Black); and OUTCOME UNCERTAIN: CASES AND CONTEXTS IN BIOETHICS. He is also author of the novels NOTHING HUMAN, FAN MAIL, and NIGHT VISION."

Andrew Black has been teaching in the Philosophy Department since fall 1999. Before coming to UMSL, he taught for eight years at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and for one year at Dartmouth College. He holds the Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Black specializes in the history of philosophy, particularly the philosophy of the seventeenth century. He has published articles on Descartes, Malebranche, and Leibniz. Other areas of Dr. Black's expertise include analytic philosophy, logic, and the philosophy of science.