What is the main idea of the passage?

The thought experiment tests whether responsibility depends on acting from one's reasons, having alternatives, or both. (The case preserves Mira's own reasoning while removing a genuine option, allowing the two possible foundations of responsibility to be examined separately.)

Why is it important that the device remains inactive?

Mira's actual approval comes from her own deliberation even though rejection was unavailable. (The nonintervention keeps the actual causal path centered on Mira's reasons while the device still blocks the alternative.)

What does “deliberation” mean in this context?

careful thinking involved in making a decision (Mira reads, considers reasons, and decides; “deliberation” names that reflective process.)

What would the device do if Mira began to choose rejection?

It would intervene and cause her to approve. (The opening paragraph states the device's response to the first sign of a rejecting decision.)

The Choice You Could Not Have Avoided: Level 5 Reading Comprehension Questions

Suppose Mira must decide whether to approve a proposal. Unknown to her, an observer named Sol has built a device that can detect the beginning of a decision. Sol wants approval. If Mira starts to choose rejection, the device will intervene and cause her to approve. If she begins choosing approval on her own, it will remain inactive.

Mira reads the proposal and approves it for reasons she accepts. The device never intervenes. Was she responsible for the choice? One argument says yes: her own judgment produced the action, and the hidden device played no role in the actual sequence. Another argument says no: because rejection was never truly possible, Mira lacked the freedom required for responsibility.

This kind of case is associated with philosopher Harry Frankfurt. It separates two ideas that often travel together: acting from one's own reasons and having open alternatives. In ordinary situations, we may assume a person could have done otherwise. Here, that assumption is removed while the person's deliberation remains.

The thought experiment does not settle every question about free will. Sol's perfect detector is imaginary, and critics disagree about whether Mira ever has even a tiny alternative. Its purpose is narrower. By changing one feature at a time, the case asks what our judgment of responsibility actually depends on: the path that produced an action, the availability of another path, or some combination of both.

Comprehension questions