Should You Wish Your Ex-Mother-in-Law a Happy Birthday?
An ethical decision-making framework
Published in
3 min readApr 11, 2021
Disclaimer: In all of this article, we work under the assumption of rationality. We assume that all agents are making decisions based on logic and reasoning, not on emotions. From our experience with the said agents — my ex-wife and my ex-mother-in-law, we know this is untrue. But — as I told you both countless times already — there’s no other way if we want to use the ethical decision-making framework.
We’ll consider four (4) approaches:
- Utilitarian Ethics. Will wishing a happy birthday to the old witch have an overall positive outcome?
- Deontological Ethics. Is it — still?! — my duty to wish her a happy birthday, or was the divorce settlement high enough to cover for this?
- Virtue Ethics. I’m a virtuous man — I AM! This private investigator you hired was more of a Photoshop expert than anything. Is it a virtue to wish a happy birthday to your ex-mother-in-law?
- Communitarian Ethics. My ex-mother-in-law is Vice-President at the country club. I’m still a member. What does the community expect from me?
Utilitarian Ethics
Funny enough, my new partner was born the same day as my ex-mother-in-law; it makes…
