Philosophy¶

Socionics is itself a kind of philosophical system whose terminology can be used to describe key differences between schools of thought and to summarize the key features of many cultural, societal, and political phenomena. The information aspects are probably the most convenient tool for this kind of analysis.

Socionic logic and philosophy¶

When knowledge is accumulated and recorded in fields of science and technology, a logical emphasis develops. This means that information is expressed primarily through the use of the element of logic. Within science and technology, however, you will find fields and sub-fields where either extraverted logic or introverted logic dominate (and sometimes other aspects as well):

When dominates, attention is primarily focused on accurately describing facts, developing an empirical foundation, and testing hypotheses.
When dominates, attention is primarily focused on structuring information, analyzing methodology, and producing theoretical explanations.

Whenever a field leans too far in the direction of one of these approaches, it attracts criticism: too much - for a lack of theoretical development and overarching explanations, and too much - for a lack of empiricism and testable hypotheses. One approach focuses on the logic of external, factual reality, while the other focuses on the internal logic of ideas and explanations themselves.

Within personality psychology, the approach is represented by the “trait” approach to personality, which measures psychological traits along a continuum and provides little theoretical understanding. The approach is represented by the “type” approach to personality, where individuals are grouped into discrete categories. This second method can provide a clear theoretical understanding, but is criticized for lacking an empirical basis and testable hypotheses.

and have played off each other in the development of science. As technical progress allowed more objective facts to be registered (), people’s conceptual understanding () gradually accommodated the new facts, and scientists took the new paradigm to its logical conclusion (), anticipating many facts intellectually before they had been demonstrated physically ().

Influence of socionic type on philosophers’ views¶

In philosophy, the difference between Ti and Te is mirrored in the analytic-synthetic distinction. It can be seen that ego Ti philosophers (such as Christopher Langan and Rene Descartes) tend to favor reaching truth through mathematical, abstract means, whereas ego Te philosophers (such as Karl Popper) concentrate more on establishing useful protocols and methodologies. Some (such as David Hume) fall in between the two extremes, showing that the analogy is by no means complete - at least not on the level of individuals.

The pinnacle of Te philosophy is pragmatism, in both its everyday and philosophical senses, whereas that of Ti philosophy is logic (likewise both formal and informal).