You shouldn't have asked for ideas or opinions if you only wanted those that matched yours. You know this man more than we do, but you didn't address the points that Prof brought up. I expected exactly that from an NF... (see how that argument makes no sense?)
You are very quick to dismiss, but not as quick to explain. So don't get upset if we jump to conclusions based on the limited facts you posted. And if someone does give advice that resonates with you, I don't see you dismissing them based on limited facts... it's hypocritical. We all saw the same facts and came to different conclusions, but only ours were dismissed.
Well, I dismissed them because you and goodstain didn't ask for more details before jumping to conclusions -- and made some pretty blunt remarks to boot.
See how
that doesn't make any sense? Without knowing me or my father, he wrote that my father's Ti is fine and that I'm likely an unhealthy ENFP. Am I supposed to take that seriously as being worth of a response? How is dismissing an inflammatory remark being hypocritical?
If you want to know if I'm projecting, just ask. And since we're complete strangers, you'll just have to take my word that I'm not.
You mentioned that his dominant Ti may be defunct. How are you judging that? His lack of socialization does not equate to his lack of Ti. In addition, it's not as if you presented him as someone who became this way recently (e.g. sank into depression), but as someone who has exhibited the same behavior for at least 20 years. So why is he now all of a sudden a concern? His personality may just be his personality.
It's not his lack of socialization so much as the underlying resentment, bitterness and close-mindedness that are completely at odds with his intelligence. I think his Ti may be defunct due to his upbringing during the Cultural Revolution in China, when propaganda and mob violence ruled. Let me put it this way: Chinese education in that era didn't teach you
how to think, it just taught you
what. It didn't teach you how to peacefully coexist within a society, it just taught you how to survive. And while my father is highly intelligent, if he didn't receive the training and practice he needed when he was young to know how to think, is there any way I can help him now?
I think immigration has just made his situation worse. Had he stayed in China, he would've risen in academia, gained a ton of self-esteem and kept developing his intellect. But since we moved here, he just hasn't been able to do that.
My understanding of INTPs is that they formulate a logical framework for their sense of self and as a path for self-growth. What if that logical framework was based on faulty propagandist thinking (thanks China) from his youth, which became defunct when he immigrated to the US? How does one break out of that and embrace a new logical worldview? I get the sense from him that he really wants to break out, but he just doesn't know how.