Yet another thread on Hilgya's alignment

[Keltest]

The problem is also that people are approach it backwards. When someone's position on that graph is being assessed, it is IMO backwards to go from alignment to action rather than let's look at all of these actions (not one action, that's part of the problem) and see where on that graph this character fits. When the discussion goes in that direction it is far more productive and most of the positions build support from the ground up.
Enough, I doubt my objection will stop any of the habits people have developed over the years. It's just one of those things that I find unappealing in the alignment discussion.

While alignment is theoretically descriptive rather than prescriptive, most frequently its being used within the context of D&D, and players creating characters whole cloth. It is significantly easier to start with broad strokes concepts like "believes in personal freedoms" and "is an altruist" (ie is Chaotic Good) than it is to pick a bunch of situations, decide how they would act, and then pick one of the nine labels from then sum of those situations.

Also, people usually have fairly consistent patterns of behavior. Somebody is not going to like something one minute and dislike it the next. So we can look at somebody and say "ok, what they have done so far is chaotic, so most likely they wont deviate from that umbrella in their future actions." Its not a deterministic factor, but it can be used to predict behavior, to a degree.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

When someone's position on that graph is being assessed, it is IMO backwards to go from alignment to action rather than let's look at all of these actions (not one action, that's part of the problem) and see where on that graph this character fits.

This. One single action cannot determine someone's alignment. This is especially so in OotS, which has established that not even familicide permanently locks you into an alignment. The best way to determine a character's alignment is to look for a pattern across all their actions - just like the Deva did it for Roy.

Grey Wolf