In his early work, Jung spent a great deal of energy exploring the nature of introversion and extroversion “in themselves,” i.e. as pure E and I. Ironically, though, most contemporary psychodynamic interpretations of Jung’s typology *do not* focus on E and I in this manner, but regard them as properties of the cognitive functions. In[…] Continue Reading
Category: Psychology
By Sigurd Arild According to Zen legend, the Zen master Kobun Chino (who was also the teacher of Steve Jobs) was once leading a meditation session. Kobun was late, and everyone else in the room was already sitting in the cross-legged position when he entered the meditation hall. Nevertheless, Kobun walked in, looked around at[…] Continue Reading
By Sigurd Arild and Ryan Smith “…it is often very difficult to find out whether a person belongs to one type or the other…” – Jung: Psychological Types §3 A popular means of assertion to back up one’s own type assessments in an argument is to state that someone is “obviously” a certain type instead of producing[…] Continue Reading
“Gradually it has become clear to me what every great philosophy so far has been … the confession of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir…” – Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil §6 By Jesse Gerroir The inferior function remains, even when integrated, largely unconscious. We never become fully aware of its[…] Continue Reading
“Appellation ceases with the absence of the objects of thought: The absolute as the essence of all things is not born, nor does it cease to be.” – Nagarjuna: Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, XVIII.7 By Ryan Smith The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (ca. 150-250 CE) is commonly held to be the most important philosopher in[…] Continue Reading
Michael Pierce is a contributing guest writer for CelebrityTypes. In this article, Pierce reaches back to Jung to explain the Jungian conception of extroversion and introversion. As with other guest writers on the site (such as Jesse Gerroir) we do not necessarily agree with Pierce on every point, but the general tenor of Pierce’s exposition[…] Continue Reading
By Sigurd Arild, Ryan Smith, and Eva Gregersen Regular readers know the drill by now: We have no affiliation with the MBTI; we just don’t like seeing lazy and uninformed critiques misguiding the public. The latest example of such a critique is the journalist Joseph Stromberg’s article: Why the Myers-Briggs test is totally meaningless, as featured in[…] Continue Reading
By Guilherme Varela and Ryan Smith Disclaimer: This article relies on a methodology that we usually caution our readers against, namely confounding mental processes (functions) with mental contents (specific positions and beliefs). Therefore, if someone were to protest the method employed here, we would immediately have to grant them the point. Nevertheless, in the absence[…] Continue Reading
In Part 1 of this essay, we looked into some of the philosophical reasons why Freud might have found himself attracted to Empedocles. Here in Part 2, we will focus on the psychological reasons instead. 3: Personal Attraction Freud felt a sense of personal admiration for Empedocles. In my opinion, Freud’s admiration for Empedocles was not just a[…] Continue Reading
List written by David Austin, edited and used with permission. Commentary by Ryan Smith. The scores and scores of fake Ni types. (“I sometimes know things. Therefore INTJ.”) Armchair “experts” who peddle wild home-grown definitions about their type and functions while having no real knowledge. (“Ni is very objective.”) The extreme pushback from aforementioned “experts” when[…] Continue Reading