THE IF-THEN LOGIC underlying the plot of the novel emphasizes the portrayal of a world in which one coincidence leads to another and micro-events such as a witty remark by a journalist or the caprice of a chambermaid produce significant effects. When Leo Fischel interrogates Ulrich about the actual motives behind the Parallel Campaign, Ulrich teases the philosophically-educated bank director by calling to his attention “the Principle of Insufficient Cause” (chapter 35). Ulrich's remark, of course, alludes to Leibniz, who had made it a principle of logical deduction that nothing exists “without” a sufficient reason. This principle, and the principle of contradiction, is fundamental to Leibniz's theodicy. Ulrich is making fun of Leibniz as Voltaire had already done before him. We are told that already in school, in writing an essay on patriotism, Ulrich imagined God to be someone who knows all possible worlds yet does not really know which one is the best. “God creates the world and thinks while he is at it that it could just as well be done differently” (MWQ 14). Accordingly, God created the world with a reservation in mind. This idea clearly contradicts Leibniz's as well as Ulrich's conviction that “the possible includes not only the fantasies of people with weak nerves but also the as yet unawakened intentions of God” (11), for in the Leibnizian universe God is always awake. Every possible move in every possible game is instantaneously present to the divine intellect. God knows the best of all possible worlds.