Hi all, I know that my type is on the Fi-Te axis and recently I’ve been learning more about different judging axis. I don’t fully understand Ti and Ni, or the Fi-Te / Te-Fi axes but I wonder how much Ti / Ni is in me. I will try my best to list the points that relate to how I think and make decisions and hopefully the more experienced among you can help me understand whether I am very typical of an Fi-Te user. If you use a different judging axis, I would like to know in what ways it’s different.
1. My natural desire is to analyze and conclude rather than understand. I am frustrated with too many loose ends and indirect language and would prefer that I know what the other person is thinking / where they stand so I can determine my own, based off of my own ideals.
2. I am not very interested in “hard” philosophy / deeply intellectual / scientific topics for its own sake. I have no interest in mainstream academia or the idea of academia in general. I don’t read any hard philosophy books and don’t think my ideas can be entirely boxed into one school of thought. Instead, I only believe these studies and back and forth discussions are meaningful if applied mostly to human issues (the ones that matter to me), as a way of finding broader themes and implications from the past to understand the present and predict the future. While my mind is all over the place and I can very much enjoy a theoretical discussion for the sake of it, a lot of it loses relevance for me if I cannot apply my personal views and goals.
3. I often judge a person by the content of their character (as I see fit) over their accomplishments / relevance for the wider world. I find it hard to objectively evaluate their contributions if one or more parts of their character or lifestyle I cannot personally approve of.
4. I’m very hesitant to discuss something in greater depth if I am already opposed to it personally. I can shut off entire paths if I feel like “that’s not me” / “that’s not my ideal of what’s right.”
5. I’m not a strictly “the ends justify the means” person, but I can be that way if I am strongly driven to do something myself or for someone else. Usually it takes stripping the thing down to what I feel are the bare essentials. Once that’s done I quickly and sometimes impulsively come up with an action plan, throwing any regard for the process / social considerations / the idea of ceremony or ritual behind me. I just feel like I have to get it done in the most crude, straightforward way possible and move on to more meaningful things and what I feel is the next step.
6. Despite Point #5, there are still a lot of times where emotions cloud my judgment even if my head is telling me what I should do. I was easily a victim of sob stories in the past but many of those people turned out to be manipulative to one degree or another. They took advantage of the fact that I strongly feel I should do what I can to help people in this cold and uncaring world, as well as me constantly asking myself whether I’m a good person. They had this part of my psychology figured out. Since then I’ve learned to set limits and not overextend myself, and better discern those really in need of help vs emotional vampires.
7. I prefer to stick to what’s familiar, I enjoy new experiences and I can let loose and not think about personal / future implications, but I cannot do it for extended periods of time before I feel the need to question whether it’s what I really want and should be going after, and how it fits into my self-image / who I want to be.
8. Innovation and exploration for its own sake doesn’t always interest me. Rather than constantly pushing limits, I much prefer to turn my attention to issues that affect the average person, the average family. For example, I wonder why Elon Musk is so obsessed with sending things into space when the average person even in the first world is struggling so much. Issues like capitalism, poverty, class struggle, human psychology, marriage and relationships, education and child development etc. are so much more relevant to me than the latest technological breakthroughs or deductive / analytical philosophy like Kant.
9. I do not see myself as a rational and logical person. In fact, people who pride themselves on the fact that they are these things are some of the most oblivious to their own personal feelings and subjectivities. At the same time, I often turn to external sources or my observations of the outside world to create and justify what I personally see as logic. I am very mistrusting of authority but on some issues I make appeals to external authorities (usually anecdotal stuff).
10. I’m much more concerned with knowing so far as to how I feel about something rather than breaking it down entirely and studying it in lots of depth. I’m curious about lots of stuff but not necessarily very deep into lots of stuff if seen from the perspective of someone who’s hardcore. I like to gather just enough knowledge to achieve what I want, and piece it together with knowledge of other things to understand how I feel about a particular thing. I love looking things up for the sake of it.
11. I’m not a very random and spontaneous person within although if someone talked to me they’ll often see me making connections between seemingly unrelated (to them) subjects. Deep down I prefer knowing over not knowing, I prefer certainty over uncertainty. Extended periods of uncertainty over thoughts and feelings stresses me out. Sometimes when I finally express myself it might be the result of weeks, even months of processing it internally.
12. I have a tendency to see other people as having the same cognitive pathways and same desires as myself. I do this consciously and subconsciously. My first instinct is to compare my own responses to theirs, and if they are speaking a very foreign cognitive language and / or have a very different set of values, I struggle to build a connection with them. I struggle very much with cold, hard facts and reality without a chance to live the way I want to and to express my personal feelings. At the same time, I can be very fascinated by others with different cognitive pathways to the point where I sometimes imagine what it would be like to experience life as them for a week or two.
13. I’m a lot more opinionated than not. I like to know, first and foremost, where I stand.
14. I’m an idealist and very much into the idea of how “things should be.” I derive my conclusions from a mixture of tradition, personal habit, personal dreams and external sources / observations of the outside world.
15. I feel suffocated by a lack of clarity while not being given the freedom to do what I want / express what I wish to express. I become the most frustrated when I feel like I have the right to express something that’s relevant and valid to me but I’m held back by the general mood or a series of hard rules.
16. I don’t always adapt to change very well, unless it’s something I know I’ve been wanting for a long time. Very rarely do I think of things in terms of “wow this opportunity’s just too good to pass up.” It must be something I know I want, or feel that it’s a stepping stone that will lead me to where I want.
1. My natural desire is to analyze and conclude rather than understand. I am frustrated with too many loose ends and indirect language and would prefer that I know what the other person is thinking / where they stand so I can determine my own, based off of my own ideals.
2. I am not very interested in “hard” philosophy / deeply intellectual / scientific topics for its own sake. I have no interest in mainstream academia or the idea of academia in general. I don’t read any hard philosophy books and don’t think my ideas can be entirely boxed into one school of thought. Instead, I only believe these studies and back and forth discussions are meaningful if applied mostly to human issues (the ones that matter to me), as a way of finding broader themes and implications from the past to understand the present and predict the future. While my mind is all over the place and I can very much enjoy a theoretical discussion for the sake of it, a lot of it loses relevance for me if I cannot apply my personal views and goals.
3. I often judge a person by the content of their character (as I see fit) over their accomplishments / relevance for the wider world. I find it hard to objectively evaluate their contributions if one or more parts of their character or lifestyle I cannot personally approve of.
4. I’m very hesitant to discuss something in greater depth if I am already opposed to it personally. I can shut off entire paths if I feel like “that’s not me” / “that’s not my ideal of what’s right.”
5. I’m not a strictly “the ends justify the means” person, but I can be that way if I am strongly driven to do something myself or for someone else. Usually it takes stripping the thing down to what I feel are the bare essentials. Once that’s done I quickly and sometimes impulsively come up with an action plan, throwing any regard for the process / social considerations / the idea of ceremony or ritual behind me. I just feel like I have to get it done in the most crude, straightforward way possible and move on to more meaningful things and what I feel is the next step.
6. Despite Point #5, there are still a lot of times where emotions cloud my judgment even if my head is telling me what I should do. I was easily a victim of sob stories in the past but many of those people turned out to be manipulative to one degree or another. They took advantage of the fact that I strongly feel I should do what I can to help people in this cold and uncaring world, as well as me constantly asking myself whether I’m a good person. They had this part of my psychology figured out. Since then I’ve learned to set limits and not overextend myself, and better discern those really in need of help vs emotional vampires.
7. I prefer to stick to what’s familiar, I enjoy new experiences and I can let loose and not think about personal / future implications, but I cannot do it for extended periods of time before I feel the need to question whether it’s what I really want and should be going after, and how it fits into my self-image / who I want to be.
8. Innovation and exploration for its own sake doesn’t always interest me. Rather than constantly pushing limits, I much prefer to turn my attention to issues that affect the average person, the average family. For example, I wonder why Elon Musk is so obsessed with sending things into space when the average person even in the first world is struggling so much. Issues like capitalism, poverty, class struggle, human psychology, marriage and relationships, education and child development etc. are so much more relevant to me than the latest technological breakthroughs or deductive / analytical philosophy like Kant.
9. I do not see myself as a rational and logical person. In fact, people who pride themselves on the fact that they are these things are some of the most oblivious to their own personal feelings and subjectivities. At the same time, I often turn to external sources or my observations of the outside world to create and justify what I personally see as logic. I am very mistrusting of authority but on some issues I make appeals to external authorities (usually anecdotal stuff).
10. I’m much more concerned with knowing so far as to how I feel about something rather than breaking it down entirely and studying it in lots of depth. I’m curious about lots of stuff but not necessarily very deep into lots of stuff if seen from the perspective of someone who’s hardcore. I like to gather just enough knowledge to achieve what I want, and piece it together with knowledge of other things to understand how I feel about a particular thing. I love looking things up for the sake of it.
11. I’m not a very random and spontaneous person within although if someone talked to me they’ll often see me making connections between seemingly unrelated (to them) subjects. Deep down I prefer knowing over not knowing, I prefer certainty over uncertainty. Extended periods of uncertainty over thoughts and feelings stresses me out. Sometimes when I finally express myself it might be the result of weeks, even months of processing it internally.
12. I have a tendency to see other people as having the same cognitive pathways and same desires as myself. I do this consciously and subconsciously. My first instinct is to compare my own responses to theirs, and if they are speaking a very foreign cognitive language and / or have a very different set of values, I struggle to build a connection with them. I struggle very much with cold, hard facts and reality without a chance to live the way I want to and to express my personal feelings. At the same time, I can be very fascinated by others with different cognitive pathways to the point where I sometimes imagine what it would be like to experience life as them for a week or two.
13. I’m a lot more opinionated than not. I like to know, first and foremost, where I stand.
14. I’m an idealist and very much into the idea of how “things should be.” I derive my conclusions from a mixture of tradition, personal habit, personal dreams and external sources / observations of the outside world.
15. I feel suffocated by a lack of clarity while not being given the freedom to do what I want / express what I wish to express. I become the most frustrated when I feel like I have the right to express something that’s relevant and valid to me but I’m held back by the general mood or a series of hard rules.
16. I don’t always adapt to change very well, unless it’s something I know I’ve been wanting for a long time. Very rarely do I think of things in terms of “wow this opportunity’s just too good to pass up.” It must be something I know I want, or feel that it’s a stepping stone that will lead me to where I want.