Why is it a problem to list Character Alignment on Character pages?

Blegh, Selfish Good Selfish Evil is a mess of a page. I am going to YMMV tag it at least.

edited 14th Feb '11 7:10:32 AM by Fighteer

Wait, what? "Selfish Good" is someone who puts on the appearance of a hero because then when they plunder nobody would suspect them? Isn't that a Villain with Good Publicity? Who in their right mind would call a person like that "good"?

I Thought It Meant someone who's guided by enlightened self-interest.

edited 14th Feb '11 8:25:17 AM by TripleElation

Yeah that definition of Selfish Good seems off.

Reverse "Enlightened Self-Interest" and you have Selfish Good. Enlightened self-interest is the assumption that by doing good for others you ultimately do good for yourself as well. Selfish Good is Doing Good for myself, and incidentally doing good for others at the same time.

A person acting in enlightened self-interest helps out the old man down the street because it's the good thing to do and it makes the neighborhood better. If the old man turns out to be a wealthy dude and leaves them a nice something-something in his will, that's cool, but it wasn't why they were doing it. A person who is Selfish Good helps out the old man down the street because they believe that he's wealthy and will leave them something in his will. If he isn't, or doesn't, they consider their effort wasted.

Philosophers across the ages have come up with all sorts of definitions for what "selfish" means and what "good" means. Classic morality would have it that they are opposites; evolutionary biology would have it that in most practical situations, they are the same thing. Certainly we don't have a definitive definition for what it means to be both of these things. Certainly not on a character alignment derivative page on TV Tropes.