But that essence can only be recognized through God’s omniscience, and Leibniz is quick to distinguish between logically “necessary” and mere divinely foreseen “certain” facts—facts that are certain “accidentally” (45). In this possibleworld account of divine foreknowledge, God is not an active force manipulating the world directly, but rather an abstract representationof the ideal “vision” or understanding of the universe (38) according to which its logic and principles are obvious. Leibniz aside, we can say that the belief that things might have been otherwise works against the assurance that the deity has laid down some plan according to whichevents occurred. 15