Repairing Arguments

Smoking cigarettes is bad. Smokers should all make the effort to quit.

In the above argument, you can see that the conclusion is "Smokers should all make the effort to quit" and the premise is "Smoking cigarettes is bad." What do they mean by "bad"? Since the premise is very vague, the argument is weak, but luckily we can add in another premise or two to repair the argument and make it a strong one! We can go on to talk about the numerous health risks that are associated with smoking, such as lung cancer, higher risk for heart attacks, and even yellowing of teeth. This list can go on and on, but we only need a few to help this argument. Expanding on what makes cigarettes "bad" not only makes the statement less vague, but also strengthens the argument. What we did with this argument in this case satisfies one of the criteria to count as repairing an argument, which is if it becomes stronger or valid, then it counts as a repair!