Isaac Newton's Type

[ygolo]

There seems to be some disagreement on Isaac Newton's type.

Was he INTP or INTJ? I think INT is fairly clear.

I did a web search.

And looked at the first page of results.

Pages typing him as INTP:
MBTI
Parableman: MBTI and Philosophers
Personality-tests Myers Briggs MBTI Famous personalities for famous INTP
INTP@Everything2.com

Pages Typing him as INTJ:
INTJ - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beyond The Rim

 

[ygolo]

Is this thing on?

I thought a whole bunch of INTPs or INTJs would be aiming to claim him or disown him. Is this posted in the wrong section?

 

[MerkW]

I think you have a better chance of some replies in the NT Rationale sub-forum, if you ask for my opinion.

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

We kind of already had a discussion about this in this thread.
http://www.typologycentral.com/forums/politics-history-current-events/928-most-influential-person-last-1000-years-4.html

Short version: I think he's an INTJ.

 

[ygolo]

Oh. That explains the crickets. When I did a seach for Isaac Newton, that thread did come up, but under Politics, History, Current Events, so I didn't know it was discussed already.

I like your explanation for INTJ. But doesn't what problems you focus on (what your job is) color your "experiential understanding" as an INTP.

I wonder if I would be an INTJ if I were a pure Electrical Engineer instead of a Computer Engineer. My experitial understanding comes from what I work on -- Computer Engineering is part Electircal Engineering, which is mainly Applied Physics with trade skills, (quick circuit manimulation, handbook rules on electrical characteristics, use of lab equipment, etc.), and Computer Science, which is mainly Discrete Math with trade skills (programming in various languages, understanding particular computer architectures, etc.).

Did anyone have a strong argument for INTP, or was yours the final word?

BlueWing seemed unconvinced. Though absent-mindedness doesn't seem nearly enough to warrant an INTP typing.

 

[Blackwater]

really, i think, like plato's third letter, newton's fourth letter is lost to history

 

[alexkreuz]

From what I learned in elementary school, as soon as the apple fell from the tree and hit him on the head he realized that gravity existed! with a giant exclamation point!

I'm going to have to go with INTJ due to the Ni function. I think if he was an INTP with a functioning Ne function he wouldn't have automatically accepted the truth of gravity almost immediately and would have rather thrown it around his mind as one of many possibilities of why the apple fell.

Of course my analysis is contingent of my ability to bullshit my way in and out of problems, so it is very well possible that I'm wrong. But I'm going to let the INTJ claim him anyway.


Ni
Introverted iNtuiting
"The sense of the future and the realizations that come from introverted iNtuiting have a sureness and an imperative quality that seem to demand action and help us stay focused on fulfilling our vision or dream of how things will be in the future."

Ne
Extraverted iNtuiting
"Using this process, we can juggle many different ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and meanings in our mind at once with the possibility that they are all true."

 

[Athenian200]

I personally think he's an INTJ, but an INTP friend of mine swears up and down that Issac's an INTP. (gee, I wonder why?)

My reason is that he used Latin to publish his works, and that sounds like an Ni-ish thing to do for some reason. Don't know why. Also, he often argued heatedly with colleagues in a way that sounded more INTJ than INTP.

 

[The Ü™]

As he was a man of science, I think he was Ti, so I say he's INTP.

 

[Zergling]

My reason is that he used Latin to publish his works, and that sounds like an Ni-ish thing to do for some reason.

I'm pretty sure a lot of science was published in Latin at that time, or at least used Latin quite heavily. (It was in general an "educated person" language.), so it doesn't say anything either way about type.

 

[ygolo]

From what I learned in elementary school, as soon as the apple fell from the tree and hit him on the head he realized that gravity existed! with a giant exclamation point!

I'm going to have to go with INTJ due to the Ni function. I think if he was an INTP with a functioning Ne function he wouldn't have automatically accepted the truth of gravity almost immediately and would have rather thrown it around his mind as one of many possibilities of why the apple fell.

Of course my analysis is contingent of my ability to bullshit my way in and out of problems, so it is very well possible that I'm wrong. But I'm going to let the INTJ claim him anyway.


Ni
Introverted iNtuiting
"The sense of the future and the realizations that come from introverted iNtuiting have a sureness and an imperative quality that seem to demand action and help us stay focused on fulfilling our vision or dream of how things will be in the future."

Ne
Extraverted iNtuiting
"Using this process, we can juggle many different ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and meanings in our mind at once with the possibility that they are all true."

I don't think the apple story has much truth to it.

If you read the Principia you'll see the amount of thought and struggle that went into formulating his laws (including inventing a way to represent forces that would be invariant under rotations, ans well as the first, and second derivative, which he found repugnant).

I am pretty sure there is a combination of N and T here. Which N and which T is hard to tell.

 

[The_Liquid_Laser]

I don't think the apple story has much truth to it.

If you read the Principia you'll see the amount of thought and struggle that went into formulating his laws (including inventing a way to represent forces that would be invariant under rotations, ans well as the first, and second derivative, which he found repugnant).

I am pretty sure there is a combination of N and T here. Which N and which T is hard to tell.

Your reply is something of a non-sequitor. The apple story has to do with the Theory of Universal Gravitation. Principia has to do with Calculus. Apples and oranges.

 

[alexkreuz]

I don't think the apple story has much truth to it.

i know .. i was just being goofy, couldn't you tell? what can i say it was elementary school .. they taught it alongside the story of george washington and his favorite cherry tree being cut ..

maybe the apple fell cuz somebody cut the tree .. therefore gravity doesn't exist .. :O