Alignment is a hold-over from when non-humans were your multiclass characters. They remain so that those damnable, plot-breaking divination spells have a logical framework. They can also serve as a guide for those new to the table but soon get thrown out by most.
Vivax is right. Philosophical ideals *spit* can't be brought off the page without breaking down. The government in A Brave New World was hedonistic even in the colloquial sense that the term is used in the article but hardly Chaotic. Hell, go back to the ultimate canon of Tolkien - The Shire was Righteous, Humane, Transcendent and Sybaritic while Gondor was Ambitious, Ascendant and Orthodox. Minas Tirith "You will never find a more retched hive of scum and villainy".
