To better understand why Unity, probability, and consistency in critical theory are important, we can return to Horace’s statement on wisdom being fundamental for a good composition. Wisdom indicates having good judgment, or, when applied to Aristotle, the ability to evaluate the outcome of an action and determine whether it will lead to happiness or unhappiness. Consistency eliminates absurdity to help maintain the poem’s believability. For Horace, the main goal of this is to keep the audience’s attention, but, since Aristotle focuses less on the audience and more on the philosophy of poetry itself, we can turn to his interpretation of poetry’s purpose to connect the dots.
In chapter 9 of Poetics, “Poetry and History”, he states:
The difference is that [history] tells of what has happened, [poetry] of the kinds of things that might happen. For this reason poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history; for poetry speaks more of universals, history of particulars.
He then elaborates on universals, defining them as “the kinds of thing a certain type of person will probably or necessarily say or do in a given situation” (69). In other words, as he previously states, “things that might happen”, or things that have the potential to occur — things that are probable. When he argues that poetry is worth more “serious attention” than history because it is “more philosophical”, he implies that “things that might happen” are more important than “what has happened”. And these “things that might happen” are not arbitrary occurrences, but rather “things that might happen” to, or because of, a “certain type of person”, a character. Thus, to represent something that might happen to a “certain type of person”, the character must be lifelike and represent this type in a recognizable manner. A person becomes wise when they learn what might happen to people in certain situations and can choose the ideal outcome (i.e. exercising good judgment). So, combining Aristotle and Horace’s views, because poetry is philosophical and tells of things that might happen in a situation with a certain type of person, it can benefit the audience by combining pleasure and precepts. Poetry teaches wisdom through its philosophical nature, which is only made possible by consistency.