Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?
aliktcon March 9, 2022
Flashcards: "Failure to Respond"
Hi,
I am not sure where to write this question, but I was confused on the below flashcard when going through the 33 flashcards in Errors in Reasoning.
I was unsure what the "failure to respond" fallacy is, as it is not listed in the 33 Common LSAT Flaws lesson.
Can someone please elaborate on what this means exactly in respect to the example provided that states: " My opponent has said that the new bill that we passed is no accomplishment because it doesn't actually change the law, given that compliance with the provisions are voluntary. But it is an accomplishment because getting anything passed in our bitterly divided legislature takes a lot of effort."
Thank you in advance for clarifying!
Alik
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Failure to respond is a flaw in an argument where the author simply does not address the concern that a critic raises. The passage you include is a great example. The opponent claims that the bill isn't an accomplishment because it does not change the law- and presumably will have no impact. The author responds by saying that it is an accomplishment to get anything passed. While the author may be correct that it is hard to get any bill passed, they do not actually address the critics' point that the bill accomplishes precisely nothing. The author ignores the critique that the bill fails to change the law, and instead points out that it was difficult to get passed. They have not challenged the critics' conclusion and responded to their critique, but rather changed the focus to the difficulty of passage.
