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By Ryan Smith The spiritual history of India can be divided into two main strands:  The Atman (self) and the Anatman (no-self) traditions. The self-doctrine draws its inspiration from the spiritual visions of the Vedic seers, as these were handed down to us in the Upanishads (ca. 1000 – 500 BCE) while the no-self doctrine...

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...

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...

“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...

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...

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...

By Ryan Smith and Eva Gregersen Business Insider seems to be developing a penchant for publishing poorly researched articles about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Last September it was Professor Adam Grant’s critique of the MBTI which quoted unfaithfully from one of the scientific studies that it used as the basis of its argument. Now it is reporter Drake Baer who...

By Ryan Smith “The true and positive meaning of the antinomies in Kant is this: That every actual thing involves a co-existence of opposed elements. Consequently to know, or in other words, to comprehend an object is equivalent to being conscious of it as a concrete unitary of opposed determinations.” – Hegel: Encyclopaedia of the...

By Ryan Smith “No one can foresee in what guise the nucleus of truth contained in the theory of Empedocles will present itself to later understanding.” – Freud: Analysis Terminable and Interminable §6 Empedocles (ca. 490-430 BCE) is the earliest Western thinker to whom Freud ever referred.[1] Just as Heraclitus was Jung’s favorite pre-Socratic, so...

By Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. It was intriguing to read about Pauli’s relationship with Jung and his ideas about using Jung in physics. I’m not sure it works very well, which of course is Pauli’s problem, not that of the admins. Yet I have some criticisms: When you say: “As long as nobody’s looking, observing,...

This essay, “The Psychological Aesthetics of INTJ,” won 1st prize in the CelebrityTypes essay contest. The views and type assessments expressed in this essay represent the opinions of its author and not the editorial point of view of the site. Readers should also remember that “type portraits” can never apply to all members of a...

Some additional notes on our prior discussion of Bill Gates’ type are in order. In terms of behaviorism and trait theory there is a strong case to be made for Bill Gates as a low scorer on the extroversion scale. People watch interviews with Bill Gates, pick up on his behaviorally introverted mannerisms and then...

By Ryan Smith “Every serious man in dealing with really serious subjects carefully avoids writing.” – Plato: Seventh Letter §344c When we last left the question of Plato’s Unwritten Doctrine, we had seen that Plato had been confronted with the Third Man Argument during the late part of his career. We had also seen that...

By Ryan Smith “[I have meditated] on Plato’s secrecy and sphinx-like nature.” – Friedrich Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil §28 As far as we know, Plato never told us anything directly. Rather he wrote a series of dialogues from which a certain philosophy and temperament can be noticed by the person who endeavors to read...

By Ryan Smith, Eva Gregersen, and Sigurd Arild A number of common critiques of Jungian typology and the MBTI are often voiced in no uncertain terms by people who have comparatively little knowledge about these fields. In this article we purport to answer the most common of these critiques. CRITICISMS OF THE MBTI THAT ARE...