[Alt-text] Spongebob and Patrick work out their strategy with a utility based analysis.
We tend to assume that the means accomplish the ends, but that's not necessarily the case. The trolley problem never looks at where the trolley is going, just how it gets there. But if the way we want to get there doesn't actually go to the destination we want, then it's not a solution. Hope this helps. =D
edit: trolley is spelled with an e
Maybe, I suspect we're just disagree on semantics without much meaningful difference, but I guess a simpler way of putting what I was saying is more "if you think that the "means" aren't justified by the "ends" when all is said and done, then you haven't actually achieved the "ends" at all, so if they would have been a good thing or not is now a moot point."
Let's say a goal is a description of properties of a world state you would like to achieve. A goal can then encompass many possible world states, where unconstrained variables can be anything.
So if you want A, that does not necessarily have bearing on B. So people might say that the ends (reaching A) don't justify the means (causing B). However, I'd say they underspecified their goal. Usually, people's goals are goal + all of ethics.