  In conclusion, it has been claimed throughout this piece that Leibniz advances his unique views on modality in opposition to the views of Hobbes and Spinoza. In short, the modal metaphysics we find in Leibniz's system is a result of the attempt to combine the insights of a mechanistic (and therefore deterministic) world-view with the demands of orthodox Christianity. There are a number of important particular points to bring out here. First, on Spinoza's view, everything that is possible is actual; that is, there are no unactualized possibilities. To claim that some particular thing or event could have been otherwise or to claim that the world itself could have been otherwise is simply to make an assertion without adequate knowledge. Indeed, one of the cornerstones of Spinoza's philosophy is the view that, if one has knowledge of the third kind, then one will recognize that everything happens out of the necessity of the divine nature. Second, if the Divine Choice Theory is the preferred account of the origin of this actual world, then Leibniz stands in opposition to Spinoza both because the Divine Choice Theory entails the existence of non-actualized possible worlds and also because it clearly entails a God that is anthropomorphic and transcendent. In other words, the Divine Choice Theory requires a God in whom intellect and will are distinct. Third, Leibniz's accounts of necessity and contingency are, obviously, in service of his commitment to the real freedom of human beings – and this in the face of the mechanistic world-view to which he otherwise adhered. This should be in no way surprising because Leibniz, unlike Hobbes and Spinoza, upheld the basic tenets of Christianity and had to explain how freedom and responsibility could be attributed to an individual, whose very nature (following Leibniz's account of truth) entailed all properties, past, present, and future.