 Malebranche’s description of his own opinion goes beyond what can be found in the original edition of the Recherche. However, his description of the other alternatives is drawn directly from this text. In particular, Malebranche had argued there that there are only four alternatives to the conclusion that we see bodies through ideas in God: (1) Bodies transmit resembling species to the soul; (2) Our soul has the power to produce ideas when triggered by non-resembling bodily impression; (3) Ideas are created with the soul or produced in it successively by God; and (4) Our soul sees both the essence and the existence of bodies by considering its own perfections. Malebranche told Arnauld that since this list constitutes “an exact division … of all the ways in which we can see objects” and since each of the alternative accounts yields “manifest contradictions,” his argument from elimination serves to demonstrate the doctrine of the vision in God (Malebranche [OC], 6:198–99).