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a. Explain in your own words the thesis of determinism, and explain
why someone attempting to argue that determinism is true has to argue
that chance, in the sense in which Laplace understands this word in the
extract provided to you, does not exist. (Note that in the extract the
word ‘hazard’ is also used when Laplace talks about chance.)
b. Someone might say: “It is perfectly obvious that chance exists, for if
I throw a die and it lands showing five, then that clearly happens by
chance, and that is what any reasonable person would say.” Would
Laplace find this argument a convincing refutation of his view that
chance is an “imaginary [cause]”? Explain why you would claim that he
would/would not find it convincing.
