PhilosophyMemes

Three good examples - I'd say that

• the trolley problem is a reasonable application of utilitarianism, not depending on any other metric than "it is good to stop a person from dying". The main problem with applying it in practice is not the arithmetic (which is sound), but that you are almost never guaranteed that killing the one person will actually save the others.
• comatose man vs dog in burning building is a good example of a case where utilitarianism can't give you an answer, but can give you a way of investigating the problem by discussing what utility is in this situation
• longtermism is like the reverse of utilitarianism to me. Utilitarianism asks you to ignore the abstract to justify ethics based on actual consequences. Longtermism asks you to ignore the consequences of the present in favor of some made up abstract future utility. It's the opposite of utilitarianism.

Ultimately, utilitarianism isn't about calculating which situation gives more utility, but about critically investigating whether your actions actually make the world a better place.