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In this PhD thesis the ancient question of determinism ('Does every eventhave a cause ?') will be re-examined. In the philosophy of science and physicscommunities the orthodox position states that the physical world isindeterministic: quantum events would have no causes but happen by irreduciblechance. Arguably the clearest theorem that leads to this conclusion is Bell'stheorem. The commonly accepted 'solution' to the theorem is 'indeterminism', inagreement with the Copenhagen interpretation. Here it is recalled thatindeterminism is not really a physical but rather a philosophical hypothesis,and that it has counterintuitive and far-reaching implications. At the sametime another solution to Bell's theorem exists, often termed 'superdeterminism'or 'total determinism'. Superdeterminism appears to be a philosophical positionthat is centuries and probably millennia old: it is for instance Spinoza'sdeterminism. If Bell's theorem has both indeterministic and deterministicsolutions, choosing between determinism and indeterminism is a philosophicalquestion, not a matter of physical experimentation, as is widely believed. Ifit is impossible to use physics for deciding between both positions, it islegitimate to ask which philosophical theories are of help. Here it is arguedthat probability theory - more precisely the interpretation of probability - isinstrumental for advancing the debate. It appears that the hypothesis ofdeterminism allows to answer a series of precise questions from probabilitytheory, while indeterminism remains silent for these questions. From this pointof view determinism appears to be the most reasonable assumption, after all.

Does Chance Hide Necessity ? A Reevaluation of the Debate 'Determinism - Indeterminism' in the Light of Quantum Mechanics and Probability Theory