Carl Jung, Functions & Attitudes
Apr 20, 2017 1:17:16 GMT -5 by Auburn
Alerith and mystery like this
Post by Auburn on Apr 20, 2017 1:17:16 GMT -5
Hi. I wanted to open up this thread to a study of Jung's direct literature and how it compares to current understandings. Feel free to share excerpts of your own or any thoughts!
Functions & Attitudes
Carl Jung's use of the word "function" spans beyond what we're used to, in typology lore. He would often say things like the 'religious function' the 'transcendent function' and he would even refer to Thinking and Feeling as functions. This is not our typical 8 functions model, but it relates to it because it informs what he felt the functions were.
When we study Psychological Types in detail, we notice that Jung though about the "8 functions" as being less a description of fixed entities than an explanation of necessary general attitude compounds. He mentions putting chapter X at the back of the book because he wanted people to focus more on the earlier chapters, which elaborate extensively on the historical dilemmas we see with specific attitude clashes (T vs F, etc). So Jung was essentially a general attitude oriented theorist. For Jung the primary dichotomy in people was Introversion/Extroversion, and then that was subdivided into F/T/S/N. We can see this too in interviews when asked about what he felt his type was. What he says is:
So if that gives us "all the necessary data" for diagnosis, that means Jung felt his type was I+N+T and he had inferior F+S. People struggle over whether Jung felt he was a TiNe or an NiTe or an NiFe, but he didn't think of it in those terms. He would have said he is an introverted intuitive thinker. And what that means is he's Introverted (primary axis) and that's subdivided into intuition and thinking; both of which reside below his introversion and have an introverted orientation as a consequence. Otherwise it would have been necessary to designate which of the two (intuition or thinking) was introverted.
But!... a Disclaimer
Having said that, he did see T/F/N/S as necessarily having an E/I orientation so in a way there is some "glue" there that makes the two more connected than not. And the inferior function was thus, by necessity of the above stated, also a conglomeration of the opposite attitude with the opposite orientation. So hierarchy to Jung looked like this:
I(TN) <----> E(SF)
Where I(TN) = introverted thinking and intuition /// with inferior extroverted feeling and sensing
The introverted/extroverted divide was the primary axis for Jung and you can see it underpinning just about every chapter of Psychological Types. More than any other dichotomy, this was the most clear to him and it lay at the root of his theory (hence N and T being subdivisions of that and in parentheses above). For more info on this, Reckful (who i disagree with in other areas) covers it very nicely here.
Functions & Attitudes
Carl Jung's use of the word "function" spans beyond what we're used to, in typology lore. He would often say things like the 'religious function' the 'transcendent function' and he would even refer to Thinking and Feeling as functions. This is not our typical 8 functions model, but it relates to it because it informs what he felt the functions were.
When we study Psychological Types in detail, we notice that Jung though about the "8 functions" as being less a description of fixed entities than an explanation of necessary general attitude compounds. He mentions putting chapter X at the back of the book because he wanted people to focus more on the earlier chapters, which elaborate extensively on the historical dilemmas we see with specific attitude clashes (T vs F, etc). So Jung was essentially a general attitude oriented theorist. For Jung the primary dichotomy in people was Introversion/Extroversion, and then that was subdivided into F/T/S/N. We can see this too in interviews when asked about what he felt his type was. What he says is:
- I most certainly was characterized by Thinking … and I had a great deal of Intuition, too. And I had a definite difficulty with Feeling. And my relation to reality was not particularly brilliant. … I was often at variance with the reality of things. Now that gives you all the necessary data for diagnosis. [pp. 435-6]
So if that gives us "all the necessary data" for diagnosis, that means Jung felt his type was I+N+T and he had inferior F+S. People struggle over whether Jung felt he was a TiNe or an NiTe or an NiFe, but he didn't think of it in those terms. He would have said he is an introverted intuitive thinker. And what that means is he's Introverted (primary axis) and that's subdivided into intuition and thinking; both of which reside below his introversion and have an introverted orientation as a consequence. Otherwise it would have been necessary to designate which of the two (intuition or thinking) was introverted.
But!... a Disclaimer
Having said that, he did see T/F/N/S as necessarily having an E/I orientation so in a way there is some "glue" there that makes the two more connected than not. And the inferior function was thus, by necessity of the above stated, also a conglomeration of the opposite attitude with the opposite orientation. So hierarchy to Jung looked like this:
I(TN) <----> E(SF)
Where I(TN) = introverted thinking and intuition /// with inferior extroverted feeling and sensing
The introverted/extroverted divide was the primary axis for Jung and you can see it underpinning just about every chapter of Psychological Types. More than any other dichotomy, this was the most clear to him and it lay at the root of his theory (hence N and T being subdivisions of that and in parentheses above). For more info on this, Reckful (who i disagree with in other areas) covers it very nicely here.