The principle of probability was in the period of Enlightenment almost entirely accepted, mainly (although not only) within the framework of the aesthetics of classicism. The above is confirmed by a number of aesthetic and literary statements of that age. Probability which evoked all that was general, that could have happened, was considered more important than the truth, which referred to individual facts. It was connected with the possibility of a certain derogation from the truth accepted by the recipients, so that the work could satisfy the didactic function (e.g. by showing the triumph of virtue), or in order to present things not the way they really are, but the way they might be. Fidelity to the probability principle was also supposed to serve the creation of an illusion in the recipients’ awareness. In various genres, this possibility of the truth modification would look different (for example, talking animals were acceptable only in a fairy tale). However, new aesthetic concepts entail the departure from the probability principle, frequently in the direction of the truth understood in a new manner.

Streszczenie
Zasada prawdopodobieństwa była w okresie oświecenia niemal powszechnie akceptowana, głównie (choć nie tylko) w ramach estetyki klasycyzmu. Potwierdzają to liczne wypowiedzi estetycznoliterackie w tamtej epoce. Prawdopodobieństwo, które ewokowało to, co ogólne, co mogło się zdarzyć, było uważane za ważniejsze od prawdy, odnoszącej się do faktów jednostkowych. Wiązało się też z możliwością pewnego, akceptowanego przez odbiorców, odstępstwa od prawdy, aby dzieło mogło spełnić funkcję dydaktyczną (np. poprzez pokazanie tryumfu cnoty) czy aby zaprezentować rzeczy nie takimi, jakimi są, ale jakimi mogą być. Wierność zasadzie prawdopodobieństwa miała też służyć wytwarzaniu iluzji w świadomości odbiorców. W różnych gatunkach przy tym ta możliwość modyfikacji prawdy wyglądała inaczej (np. mówiące zwierzęta dopuszczalne były tylko w bajce). Nowe koncepcje estetyczne wiążą się natomiast z odchodzeniem od zasady prawdopodobieństwa, często w kierunku w nowy sposób rozumianej – prawdy.
 

The principle of probability was in the period of Enlightenment almost entirely accepted, mainly (although not only) within the framework of the aesthetics of classicism. The above is confirmed by a number of aesthetic and literary statements of that age. Probability which evoked all that was general, that could have happened, was considered more important than the truth, which referred to individual facts. It was connected with the possibility of a certain derogation from the truth accepted by the recipients, so that the work could satisfy the didactic function (e.g. by showing the triumph of virtue), or in order to present things not the way they really are, but the way they might be. Fidelity to the probability principle was also supposed to serve the creation of an illusion in the recipients’ awareness. In various genres, this possibility of the truth modification would look different (for example, talking animals were acceptable only in a fairy tale). However, new aesthetic concepts entail the departure from the probability principle, frequently in the direction of the truth understood in a new manner.