CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Liberty is perhaps the most praised of all social ideals. Rare is the modern political movement which has not inscribed "liberty," ...

It is sometimes thought that the existence of something rather than nothing is, in some respect, surprising or improbable and that it requires, for this reason, a special explanation, different in kind from ordinary or scientific explanations. In this paper, I argue that there is not any reasonable sort of probability under which the existence of something rather than nothing is improbable. I then show that, even if it were improbable, it would not be the sort of improbability which requires (...) a special explanation. (shrink)