Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaveri
I didn't have time to read your entire post (sorry), but I read the INFP part.  Anyway, I was delighted to see that Thompson had organized the functions that way for INFPs. That's much closer to the order that I socred in the function order test than the usually expected Fi-Ne-Si-Te-Fe-Ni-Se-Ti.
(My order was Ne/Fi, Ti/Ni, Si, Te/Fe, Se.)
"No doubt the INFP functions like an Introverted Thinker in many ways, but it does not mean that the actual Introverted Thinking is there."
Why not? When I function like an Introverted Feeler, the actual Fi is there. So, when I function like an Introverted Thinker, why isn't the "actual" Ti there?
Note that I feel that it comes naturally for me to function like a Ti-- it doesn't feel like a mask (like being too extraverted, for example, sometimes feels).
"It is really the shadow of Introverted Feeling. Fi resembles Ti when doing analysis, especially that of impersonal nature."
So. In your opinion, what is the actual difference between Ti and the Ti-like shadow of Fi?
If the Ti-like shadow of Fi and Ti are identical, why should they be separated? What's the point? If the Ti-like shadow of Fi resembles Ti more than Fi, why not just call it Ti?
Because "but INFP can't Ti"? 
No, seriously. |
Because the T energy can only come from the Te.
Essentially. We have the four functions stationed in our psyche.. Fi Ne Si Te, the rest are in between and can only exist as shadows..
When you deal with impersonal matters, you take an Fi approach, as you naturally do to everything. Yet the real T energy has to come from your T station--the Te. So the Te supplies the Fi with analytical energy, and hence the Fi performs better whilst dealing with T oriented matters. When doing the analysis, however, the INFP is much more like the TJs than TPs, as their Thinking function is externally focused. The only reason the INFP seems like it has Ti is because he/she makes solutions internally, with the external function only supporting the Fi. Yet if we seperate the two, we will see that that the Fi and Te are seperate entities and the Te looks like a Ti because of the internal influence of the Fi.
A more pertinent example of this would be the INFJ. They are much more comfortable with conceptual analysis than organization (Te), and how ENTPs (Ti-Fe), are more comfortable giving emotional support externally rather than devising a private system of ethics, and making assessments based on internal values.
Essentially, Thompson's assertion that Fi and Ne are both right brained functions seems to be without foundation. Because she has established this, she assumes that the other Introverted Judging function (Ti) and the other Extroverted perceiving function (Se) is also. It would make more sense to say that perceiving functions are right-brained and judging are left-brained. Yet those of us with the Extroverted right-brained function tend to apply judging functions to the right-brained 'world'. And vice versa for the left-brained.
Moreover if we apply Thompson's model,
Fi
Ne
Ti
Se
The INFP
And the ENFP
Ne
Fi
Se
Ti
What we get is that the INFP is more adept with Thinking than the ENFP despite Thinking being the inferior function of the INFP and tertiary of ENFP. That sounds counter-intuitive doesn't it?
Hence the types that struggle with Thinking arent the ones with the inferior Thinking faculty, but those with a tertiary for some reason? A more plausible resolution to draw from this would be that the dominant Judging function types tend to do better with decision making, as they apply either Thinking or Feeling to nearly all scenarios of life, whilst the dominant perceiving types have more difficulties applying a judging function because it is their secondary. With Thompson's model, Thinking and Feeling seem to be inseparable from one another, as the Ti necessarily follows the Fi. This is antithetical to Jung's initial model that he borrowed from Schopenhauer where Thinking and Feeling are opposites and so are Intellect (N) and Will (Sensation-S). Because we have established that Thinking and Feeling could not be part and parcel of the same essence, I posit that the image of the Fi following the Ti is illusory.
To recapitulate, you only look like an Introverted Thinker because Introverted Feeling is similar to Introerted Thinking on a superficial level. The facade is the same, as they are both properties of introverted judgment, but their essence is different.