I think it was a good example (I changed the wording from ‘great’ to ‘good’) because my point was more about the role of abstract and formal theories of ethics rather than restricted to utilitarianism itself, and your response was defending abstract theories as the ultimate foundation for ethics. The point (which I am likely communicating badly to someone with different beliefs) is that formal systems have limits and are imperfectly applied by flawed humans with limited time, information, etc. It is all well and good to talk about making adjustments to theories to refine them, and indeed philosophers should do so, but applying them to real life is necessarily an imperfect process.
I think it was a good example (I changed the wording from ‘great’ to ‘good’) because my point was more about the role of abstract and formal theories of ethics rather than restricted to utilitarianism itself, and your response was defending abstract theories as the ultimate foundation for ethics. The point (which I am likely communicating badly to someone with different beliefs) is that formal systems have limits and are imperfectly applied by flawed humans with limited time, information, etc. It is all well and good to talk about making adjustments to theories to refine them, and indeed philosophers should do so, but applying them to real life is necessarily an imperfect process.