ll will that might fester and grow within him, he explains, would have the potential of breaking his integrity. That threat is far greater than death: "those of us who believe death to be an evil are certainly mistaken. I have convincing proof of this, for it is impossible that my customary sign did not oppose me if I was not about to do what was right" (Plato 43). He continues:
Be of good hope as regards death, gentlemen of the jury, and keep this one truth in mind, that a good man cannot be harmed either in life or in death, and that his affairs are not neglected by the gods. What has happened to me now has not happened of itself, but it is clear to me that it was better for me to die now and to escape from trouble (Plato 44).
Like Socrates, Plato's student Aristotle approaches ethics in terms of practical action as well as philosophical discourse, although he structures his argument discursively instead of in dialogue form. Aristotle's describes ethics as a "practical" science, by which he means ethics is not just theory but applies to real life, moving beyond mere hypothetical discussion of contingencies. Accordingly, ethical action points in the direction of what Aristotle eventually calls goods, or the Good. "It makes no difference," Aristotle says, "whether the ends of the actions are the activities themselves or something apart from them" (Aristotle 63). No less significant is Aristotle's view that the individual's practice of ethics with a view toward the highest and best good for man takes place within a larger social context of human community, notably the political environment. To put it another way, the personal is political, which means that ethics for Aristotle, as a practical science, has a social and public function: "though it is worth while to attain the end merely for one man, it is finer and more godlike to attain it for a nation or for city-states" (Aristotle 309).
Aristotle identifies this sublime effort ...