  Although the Divine Choice Theory does seem to be Leibniz's preferred way to explain the origin of this—the actual—world, he does offer another explanation that deserves comment.  This is the doctrine of striving possibles. According to this view, as presented principally in On the Ultimate Origination of Things (De rerum originatione radicali, 1697), each essence naturally strives for existence, and the actual world is simply the final battlefield after all possible essences have engaged in mortal combat for survival. In short, this is metaphysical Darwinism, in which the most perfect (and mutually compatible) essences survive to constitute a world. Consider the following: