Thus, the ship s captain can never be certain that, the next time that he is in a storm, the right course of action would again be to throw the cargo overboard. If human action were governed by rules, then we would never have to deliberation about our actions, for it would always be clear and transparent what the correct action would mean. We would simply have to learn these rules in advance to be sure that we would not make the incorrect and unethical decision. For Aristotle the tragedy of human life, an essential tragedy that can never be avoided, is that I can never know before hand, or even in moment of my decision, what the outcome of my actions might be. I might have the best intentions, but still have my action lead to dreadful consequences.
Ethics is always a perhaps and maybe, and never a yes or a no.
Aristotle s ethics is therefore a finite ethics that stresses the limits of human practical knowledge, whereas for Plato ethics is governed by the same rule as the universality of the sciences. What is involuntary therefore is not something that can avoided. It is rather that which necessarily accompanies every one of my actions. It is that which is unforeseeable in every act. What Aristotle calls chance or fortune tuche .