Prawdopodobieństwo i przyjemność. O kategorii impossibile credibile
Probability and Aesthetic Delight: The Concept of Impossibile Credibile

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses Renaissance thinkers’ reception of the section of Aristotle’s Poetics that concerns the category of probability and the concept of “credible impossibility” (impossibile credibile in Italian). In the late Renaissance, the innovative literary and aesthetic theories developing in Italy caused this category to undergo a certain modification. It was described as credibile meraviglioso (Jacopo Mazzoni) and took on the paradoxical form of credibile-incredibile (Francesco Patrizi). By studying the evolution of the concept of impossibile credibile in the context of the doctrines of probability and literary credibility, as well as in the context of the directive to surprise the audience, Niebelska-Rajca reveals the changes that took place in late Renaissance aesthetics and literary theory, accentuating the notion of surprising the audience as one of they key sources of aesthetic pleasure.

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