what is the purpose of Ti

[kvroom]

Hi, i'm new to this forum but i'm a long time student of the cognitive functions... I was reading this https://thriveal.com/2014/02/03/accounting-for-what/, and given that i've been recently working for the first time and with the inevitable conflicts, been analyzing my behavior in terms of cognitive functions... I would like to pose the question... what is the purpose of Ti? What are we supposed to bring to the table?

I will leave at that for now, cheers!

 

[StevenM]

Supposedly, we use all four functions.

We need to perceive sensually, and to intuitively grasp meanings. It's also important to both feel sentient, and detach/think/rationalize/plan. The introverted attribute is our preferred 'style' of doing so I suppose. I wrote about this in another post: http://www.intpforum.com/showpost.php?p=485452&postcount=113

Edited:

.....
There is one more dimension not covered, which is the vector of introversion and extroversion. I tend to see it as the difference of you, I and other as one whole unit, or each seperate as their own. What is the degree of connection between what you define as 'your self' and what is not yourself? Is that boundary bold and strong, or blurred and gradual?

With introversion, it's not only dealing with the 'personal' of just you, but also considering the other in which what makes them 'personal'. Extroverted functions likes to play with similarities more, where everything shares similar properties and configuration.

I'm sticking with that for now because it seems to fit. Which means Ti is unique, and sees other rationalizations much different than it's own. The way things are logically organized are percieved different depending on the individual. The way people think is only for themselves, as is mine. (and a clear, bold boundary is drawn)

Of the purpose, I guess it does bring new ideas to the table. At least with a more flexible 'system' that caters well for himself, it can have advantages, especially when needing to take on challenges independently, without aid from other resources. It plays a part for being resourceful.

 

[Grayman]

Ti is just a decision making function that prefers to organize by reason or cause and effect before attributing values (emotional/social/ethical) into the mix. Both are required but often the Ti focus overlooks the human element. Ti can easily find solutions to problems but often neglects the fact that human emotion/social consequences can make achieving that solution impossible. When the Fe is developed to supplement the Ti, the INTP can be very capable problem solving in all areas but may still have problems providing strong emotional influences to help others reach those same solutions.

Accountant Example: You may be very good at drawing up a map on how to save money and make financially wise decisions but have a hard time of encouraging or influencing others to take that path, in fact you may often feel that you should try to influence others to come to the same conclusions you had and that the facts should be influence enough in themselves as you expect them to as rationally focused as you are.

EDIT: I think that was something someone else wrote and stuck with me... it's the mbti religion virus....

 

[ENTP lurker]

If you can answer what is the purpose of mathematics you have already answered. If you answer what is the purpose of systems you have already answered.

 

[Architect]

Supposedly, we use all four functions.

We're motivated to act in a way that expresses behavior corresponding to the eight functions.

A Ti dominant INTP will obsess about problems, particularly personal ones, looking for the exact right solution given all the known parameters.

 

[kvroom]

Hi, thanks for the answers, they all fit what one can be read about us as "Ti users". What is more in the vein of what I was wondering is what "ENTP lurker" said. This and wondering why INTP's have such trouble feeling fulfilled professionally. I wonder if we have a tendency to waste our potential, given that we don't know what we our supposed to achieve or how... For me, this is because i've never considered myself good at math but then, in regular "day to day thinking" I've had to face that people consider me "inflexible", but also "basic".

Now I see this as a feature of Ti and wonder if there's a more basic way of explaining Ti that doesn't turn to "math" or "logic" to justify itself. I think more than those it is something which is the essence of being scientific. Moreover, if one could define and nurture this, I think many INTP's could be way more productive and fulfilled than they are...

 

[DIALECTIC]

Ti is there to find "shortcuts" (universal statements) / detecting potential flaws in any system (living or non-living) with the least possible effort ; it is what make INTPs so good at exploiting flaws (negative approach) or to make that system better and more resistant (positive approach).

Ti goes from the particular to the universal (inductive reasoning).
Te goes from the universal (Ti has uncovered) to the particular (deductive reasoning). Therefore without Te to be its actualizer, Ti doesn't serve a grand purpose (and without Ti, Te can't be refined).

 

[crippli]

Ti is subjective. But the good part is that it is rational. If that makes sense. What worries me, is that I think Jung develooped the function theory on a mental illness model. If I've got that right.

 

[Brontosaurie]

rejecting feel-good truism

 

[kvroom]

the last person definitely has something right about the INTP approach to things... but what I've been thinking is how a dominant function develops as the way a person copes with the environment... as a way of ordering experience

My life experience doing this (without having identified myself as INTP, to this day i'm not sure, definitely IxxP though) is that my approach (a Ti approach) saps the will to live out of some people... So that's how I know Brontosaurie is sometimes right... Now that I work and that people are being put off by my overanalysis of things (which don't make sense anyway), I've had to rediscover what is "empowering" about Ti and what other people appreciate about it... That's how I know people appreciate it as an educative function and troubleshooting function, but they don't appreciate how we get there...

Anyway, Ti as dominant function (whatever the IQ of the person may be) is our way of coping, but when we are always in "coping mode", we become "schizoid"... Also, when we don't keep rediscovering our other functions (the ones which feed our "subconscious", sustaining our will to live) we end up becoming "stiff", projecting, being solipsistic and actually coming to wrong conclusions about the environment... or at least conclusions which are not useful...

Now the question would be how does Ti make use of the other cognitive processes, but anyway I think being a Ti dominant requires patience with oneself and others...

 

[StevenM]

We're motivated to act in a way that expresses behavior corresponding to the eight functions.

A Ti dominant INTP will obsess about problems, particularly personal ones, looking for the exact right solution given all the known parameters.

Made me think of a building with a minimal solid frame, but everything else made with shape-shifting goo that could represent many variations but still somewhat limited to it's dependence to the structure in the frame.

It appears my figurative metaphoricizing engine is experiencing technical difficulties today.

 

[Oddity]

If you can answer what is the purpose of mathematics you have already answered. If you answer what is the purpose of systems you have already answered.

That's a good way to put it

Anyway, Ti as dominant function (whatever the IQ of the person may be) is our way of coping, but when we are always in "coping mode", we become "schizoid"... Also, when we don't keep rediscovering our other functions (the ones which feed our "subconscious", sustaining our will to live) we end up becoming "stiff", projecting, being solipsistic and actually coming to wrong conclusions about the environment...

Examples of coming to wrong conclusions about the environment?

 

[Reluctantly]

I'd say Ti brings logical explanation. But a logical explanation isn't always right or is sometimes relatively right, as it depends on the objective validity of its axioms to be true.

for example, math can be used to derive a classical physics formula of F=ma. But this assumes that mass and acceleration are the only components of force. And it assumes they are related by a linear equation. We know that Einstein's relativity shows the relation to be a bit more complicated than that when we consider the relativistic mass of an object, so F=ma is true in the classical sense, but not in special relativity.

I think when Ti is used in a social context it leads people to compartmentalize the behaviors of other people, allowing their Fe to have an understanding from which to affect and manipulate people. But as with all the introverted functions, it creates problems when it assumes things about people that aren't true.

 

[kvroom]

That's a good way to put it


Examples of coming to wrong conclusions about the environment?

well, any error in decision making which happens because of lacking some crucial piece of relevant information, or a wrong assumption... this can be understood from the principles of statistics and math... still, in life, intp's have trouble in dealing with a complex world without the whole analytical apparatus of the sciences... where one is all the time trying to make sense of things from basic principles and at the same time trying to collect the relevant information

that's why we end up functioning as "shortcut" makers, as our way of making a decision, still based on data and logic, but with a more "heuristic" bent to it, if it makes sense... that's also why there's a fame of thinking idiosyncratically

i think we are screwed unless we learn to work with whatever information is at hand, first developing its tangential points and implications (Ne going wild), then organizing the basic facts, then deciding how we feel about those facts which is actually the emotional origin of whatever we do as "logicians" (Ti)... in the end, what we work at is giving order and meaning to a world which at least for us is out of control... in this sense, if we put in the work we should consider ourselves as artists and strive to be perfectionists in this sense and respect our own ways of doing things, as long as we are actually trying to do anything...

as a concrete example, i always feel very strongly about the kind of clothes i would like to wear, then, for me, it makes sense to wear them from a "practical" perspective and from a personal image perspective, but of course there are other things to take in mind, for example, a sense of style in colors, in shapes and fit and there's a whole world to explore... i've benefitted hugely from being explained the affective value of dressing well for other people's appreciation, instead of Criticizing it (Ti) as a shallow thing to worry about, i lol now about my old fart economic criticism of many of society's features in this sense... turns out my "practical" sense is just an excuse for not being able to cope with the complexity of dressing well