utilitarianism definition?

Utilitarianism Definition

Utilitarianism is an philosophy that defines the best solution to an ethical issue as the one that does the most "good", or correspondingly, the least "bad".

The phrase that's commonly used is "maximize total utility", where utility is basically a measure of "goodness".

Consider this famous problem:

There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley will kill them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track, who will die. You have two options.

1: Do nothing, killing the five people on the main track, or

2: Pull the lever diverting the trolley, killing one person.

Which is the correct choice?

The utilitarian choice would be to flip the lever, because five people are worth more than one person.

Other viewpoints argue that it's better to do nothing at all, because you have no right to kill one person who otherwise would have survived, and can't make a reasonable judgement, or that noninterference is a good choice.