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.

New to this Edition

• NEW MindTap online course that contains an ebook and a wealth of activities that promote learning outcomes, such as chapter exercises, discussion boards, and videos with real-life examples in every chapter.


• NEW glossary included as a succinct collection of all the important key terms and their definitions.


• NEW revision in Chapter Four of some of the symbols and the form of some of the rules allows users to take advantage of significant online resources for proof construction and checking, and they make the symbolism consistent.

About the Authors

Ronald Munson

Ronald Munson is Professor of Philosophy of Science and Medicine at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and a nationally acclaimed bioethicist. After receiving his Ph.D. from Columbia University, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology at Harvard University and a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Munson has served as a bioethicist for the National Eye Institute and the National Cancer Institute, as an editor for the AMERICAN JOURANAL OF SURGERY, and as a member of the Washington University Human Studies Committee. Munson’s other books include RAISING THE DEAD: ORGAN TRANSPLANTS, ETHICS, AND SOCIETY, THE WOMAN WHO DECIDED TO DIE: CHALLENGES AND CHOICES AT THE EDGES OF MEDICINE, REASONING IN MEDICINE, and ELEMENTS OF REASONING, 7e (with Andrew Black). He is also the author of the novels NOTHING HUMAN, FAN MAIL, NIGHT VISION, and THE HARVARD GAME.

Andrew Black

Andrew Black was educated at University College, London, and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, from which he received his Ph.D. He taught at Dartmouth College and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and is currently Teaching Professor at University of Missouri–St. Louis, where he has taught since 1999. He has published in the areas of history of philosophy and epistemology and is the writer and presenter of the educational television series Great Philosophers.