Where did this myth that INTP are arrogant come from?

[Duxwing]

As INTPs we tend to question everything and hold no ideology, theory, concept, or idea sacred. As a result people often find us upsetting or questioning their world view. To them it comes off as arrogance, as it appears that we think we know everything, when in fact we think we know nothing.

It is the Socrates effect. Socrates seemed like an arrogant bastard, when in reality he was just a ruthless and honest questioner of everything. It is also worth mentioning that they killed him for it!
(By the way, Socrates was also an INTP)

If I had to go out, then I'd go out like Socrates: in a blaze of defiant glory. Of course, I'd much prefer not to go out in the first place and thereby think forever. Apart from the sad and dreary topic of death, understanding when people will and won't listen to logic is crucial to INTPs' social standing: you'll likely only make a religious Pi-dom loathe you if you tell him/her that God doesn't exist. Conversely, a well-aimed bolt of thought could very well stop Ti-doms or aux's in their tracks.

We live in a world full of irrational people, yet our world wouldn't function without them. Who would fight crime, douse fires, and work 40-hour shifts in the CCU burn unit if there were no SJ's? Who would make our world come alive with colors and gadgets if there were no SP's? Who would resolve our interpersonal disputes if there were no NF's? Certainly, a few bold INTP's might rise to the challenge (Jennywocky is a therapist, The Scorned Reflex wants to be a Royal Marine), but we, for the most part, like to sit back and think about abstract concepts rather than get down and do things.

-Duxwing

 

[Proletar]

If I had to go out, then I'd go out like Socrates: in a blaze of defiant glory. Of course, I'd much prefer not to go out in the first place and thereby think forever. Apart from the sad and dreary topic of death, understanding when people will and won't listen to logic is crucial to INTPs' social standing: you'll likely only make a religious Pi-dom loathe you if you tell him/her that God doesn't exist. Conversely, a well-aimed bolt of thought could very well stop Ti-doms or aux's in their tracks.

We live in a world full of irrational people, yet our world wouldn't function without them. Who would fight crime, douse fires, and work 40-hour shifts in the CCU burn unit if there were no SJ's? Who would make our world come alive with colors and gadgets if there were no SP's? Who would resolve our interpersonal disputes if there were no NF's? Certainly, a few bold INTP's might rise to the challenge (Jennywocky is a therapist, The Scorned Reflex wants to be a Royal Marine), but we, for the most part, like to sit back and think about abstract concepts rather than get down and do things.

-Duxwing

Interesting post as usual. One can really tell that you've recently been going through some kind of serious phase, because your posts are very often sharp and logical. Hold on to what you have right now, because it's good.


So what is arrogance? In fact, everyone is arrogant. Take the SJ for example, working like crazy and organizing practical things like absolute gods. They shrug their heads at us and wonder how we can have trouble waking up in the morning or getting our projects done in time. Because come on, that's the easy stuff that everyone does. Well, atleast everyone decent. And how can those so-called "thinkers" really be thinkers if they can't even get good grades?

Truth be told, everyone is specialized, and everyone thinks their particular specialization is the best one. When I type people on the MBTI, EVERYONE thinks their type is the best one. In fact, so did I when I first took it. I even felt bad for my friends that got different types.

According to me, Socrates most important message is that everyone thinks they know everything because they know everything in their particular field. The judge knows everything about the justice system and therefore thinks he knows everything about the world and the politician knows everything about politics and therefore thinks he knows everything about the world as well. This is arrogance in it's true form, shoved together with self-rightiousness, alienation, hierarchy-building, selfishness, self-indulgence. Everyone thinks they know best and are the best, and that's bad. I've been asking for the Unified Science before, and many and many of my threads have been attempts to melting-pots of undefined ideas, collections of different thoughts and attempts towards unification in general. Because that's the key towards true understanding.


I don't think accepting that SJs are good workers and so forth really cuts it. We need to interfere in their affairs and define ourselves as rebels and opposers in boh words and actions. That is not arrogance. That is counter-arrogance, and that is why in the end Socrates got executed while the establishment kept on loving themselves.

 

[Duxwing]

Interesting post as usual. One can really tell that you've recently been going through some kind of serious phase, because your posts are very often sharp and logical. Hold on to what you have right now, because it's good.

Awww, thanks! :3

So what is arrogance? In fact, everyone is arrogant. Take the SJ for example, working like crazy and organizing practical things like absolute gods. They shrug their heads at us and wonder how we can have trouble waking up in the morning or getting our projects done in time. Because come on, that's the easy stuff that everyone does. Well, atleast everyone decent. And how can those so-called "thinkers" really be thinkers if they can't even get good grades?

Truth be told, everyone is specialized, and everyone thinks their particular specialization is the best one. When I type people on the MBTI, EVERYONE thinks their type is the best one. In fact, so did I when I first took it. I even felt bad for my friends that got different types.

According to me, Socrates most important message is that everyone thinks they know everything because they know everything in their particular field. The judge knows everything about the justice system and therefore thinks he knows everything about the world and the politician knows everything about politics and therefore thinks he knows everything about the world as well. This is arrogance in it's true form, shoved together with self-rightiousness, alienation, hierarchy-building, selfishness, self-indulgence. Everyone thinks they know best and are the best, and that's bad. I've been asking for the Unified Science before, and many and many of my threads have been attempts to melting-pots of undefined ideas, collections of different thoughts and attempts towards unification in general. Because that's the key towards true understanding.


I don't think accepting that SJs are good workers and so forth really cuts it. We need to interfere in their affairs and define ourselves as rebels and opposers in boh words and actions. That is not arrogance. That is counter-arrogance, and that is why in the end Socrates got executed while the establishment kept on loving themselves.

Of course INTP interference is necessary! People of that type tend to be isolated by preference and are relentlessly, ruthlessly, unstoppably logical; there's no better social critic than someone who can see through the lies and isn't afraid of the hate. In my case, when Fe gets hurt by injustice, absurdity, or outright cruelty, I spend days carefully mulling over and considering different perspectives on the matter in question before delivering a final, logical answer. And I'm not afraid to be ostracized for what I say: If being right means being alone, then I'll just have to make some imaginary friends.

In that sense, "Pretender" by the Foo Fighters is any social critic's rallying song; consider the following excerpt:

"What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender!
What if I say I will never surrender?"

From the perspective of MBTI's INTP, we can see several statements to identify with. The first line refers to not being "like the others," and one could understand that as INTP's only making up a tiny percentage of the population. The lines about not being "one of [someone's] plays," and the mention of never surrendering could describe the unbending nature of Ti when faced with situations of illogic. Finally, the sharp insights of the Ti-Ne axis can be found in the line, "You're the pretender," in which the song's main character points out another's hypocrisy.

Overall, INTP's find themselves as outside critics who bring clarity to an illogical world. With Ti and Ne, they seek out and destroy logical fallacies like a leukocyte destroys a pathogen, and their Si gives them the will to say, with unflinching mien, "Death before illogic". All of this reasoning, of course, is driven by a child-like Fe that demands fairness and truth-- demands that other types, especially non-rational's, may very well ignore. Yet if we are to live in a society of reason and evidence, then the INTP, Lone Ranger of Logic, must ride from town to town, looking for irrationality and squashing it flat.

-Duxwing

 

[Sickles]

<< Comes off as dickishly arrogant from putting to shame the collection of information that most people have collected up to this point. Sorry I spend all my time absorbing knowledge while the rest of them watch monday night football. Not my problem. Not even a little bit.