Thoughts on Functions

[Hermit of the Forest]

I tend to view different function pairs (Fe and Ti, Se and Ni, Te and Fi, Ne and Si) not as opposing forces, but as two sides of the same coin which can work together very holistically. That doesn’t seem to be the way the functions are typically thought of. What are your thoughts?

 

[The Cat]

I dont trust your avatar. I keep waiting for a duck to drop.

 

[noname3788]

I tend to view different function pairs (Fe and Ti, Se and Ni, Te and Fi, Ne and Si) not as opposing forces, but as two sides of the same coin which can work together very holistically. That doesn’t seem to be the way the functions are typically thought of. What are your thoughts?

That's actually a quite common idea. reckful describes it as "tandems", and it is the basic idea of the function stack system that Fi is always with Te etc. I'm personally sceptical about this.

 

[Earl Grey]

I thought that way too. For example, I see my Fi as the 'guiding light', the lantern I hold, but the Te as the heavy duty gear that actually takes me there. They all work together and source things differently towards something I value / wish to attain. The Fi is like a child saying "I want ice-cream!" and Te is the one that teaches the self how to drive and go to the ice cream store- equipping, learning, and engaging in the external structure required to gain what one desires. They do not feel like they are 'against each other' in that they work in opposite directions and in opposition to each other. Both are needed, and both form a complete set in my 'equipment'. I think people whose desires run contrary to what they do somehow have more deep-seated issues, be it denial, or repression, or whatever it is (in the mundane sense of the word). For example, the Fe wanting to give, but overgives without stopping to think and reflect (Ti) on the sensibility and logistics of things. There is a repression and/or denial of one's own, in this example, feelings, needs, and personal well-being, and the Ti is seen as the 'opposing force' that prevents the full extent of empathy the individual wants to give, say.

I never thought about it that way specifically before I read more about MBTI (those thoughts are very recent), but even before then, I've always thought that T-F were not 'opposing' forces, and a proficiency in one does not mean a weakness in the other, or that it works on a single linear scale where you have a ration of 100 skill points- '20 to Feeling, 80 to Thinking' and that you can't improve one without dampening the other. I don't have specific thoughts on the other functions, but I do suspect they work similarly.

I do agree in that it seems that it somehow seems to be common to see them as 'opposing forces' to each other, I do think they are tools in a toolbox and which ones you use depends on your preference (which is what MBTI is about), and a preference leads to usage, and extensive usage leads to skill, and doing so enough gives off a seeming big 'gap' that makes it look like it is one or the other.

 

[Pionart]

Whether 2 things are opposing forces or 2 sides of the same coin, is not a distinction in terms of opposing forces, but really are 2 sides of the same coin -

- because you only look at one side of a coin at a time, thus the 2 sides are opposed.

With Ne-Si, the stored data points of Si are abstracted and connected up through Ne;
The universal ideas of Ni give rise to the concrete/sensed forms of Se (like reality generated through underlying laws);
Fi provides the moral belief system from which Te operations are conducted;
Ti provides the logical structure from which Fe communications are conducted;

In general, you're either focused on the internal or external side of the pair, but I suppose it's possible to be engaged with both sides at once.