The importance of Feeling to a Thinker

Originally Posted by hziegel

There is a serious note to be heard in that, though. If Thinkers use Feeling, clearly Feelers also use Thinking. For some reason, more Feelers are willing to admit that they use their Thinking functions, though. =P

I do agree with your statement,it is quite humorous to me,though I think we interpret it in a different way, but maybe not

Originally Posted by hziegel

There is a serious note to be heard in that, though. If Thinkers use Feeling, clearly Feelers also use Thinking. For some reason, more Feelers are willing to admit that they use their Thinking functions, though. =P

Really offtopic, but everytime I see a post by you, I end up staring at your signature for 5-10 seconds. Or more. It's mesmerizingly cute. As is your avatar.


Also, even though im an F, i find it rather easy to put the F aside and use the fragments of my T to make decision if the situation calls for it.

Originally Posted by Matis

Really offtopic, but everytime I see a post by you, I end up staring at your signature for 5-10 seconds. Or more. It's mesmerizingly cute. As is your avatar.


Also, even though im an F, i find it rather easy to put the F aside and use the fragments of my T to make decision if the situation calls for it.

Aww, thank you. I should take pictures of myself more often, I got so many compliments. x3

To be honest, I use Ti for almost everything, yet I still find myself having to rely on F in a lot of scenarios. There always has to be a line somewhere that you create or perceive for yourself, and it's impossible to determine where that line should be using logic. Logically there is no line; it all comes from your feelings. And yet I need there to be a line, because otherwise I will never be able to understand my emotions and create healthy boundaries for myself.

Originally Posted by hziegel

There is a serious note to be heard in that, though. If Thinkers use Feeling, clearly Feelers also use Thinking. For some reason, more Feelers are willing to admit that they use their Thinking functions, though. =P

Possibly because feeling types tend to attribute the rational features or experience of feeling as being 'thinking' when it's not thinking at all, and actually is their feeling doing it's job of rational judging. I suppose this may be due to misconceptions about feeling, and it's overall I dunno... perceived subordination to the thinking function. Feeling types probably tend to have more of a positive view on thinking than vice versa. Even for those types with thinking as their tertirary function!



If a thinking type does not integrate feeling, according to theory, their psyche will be fragmented. Their feeling may continue to play a sort of sabotaging role in their life without them noticing.

If you've ever met someone or observed a character you've been automatically drawn to, odds are they have something you need to unlock within yourself. If you're a dominant thinker, you might find this in a dominant feeler.

"'Feeling is the name for the psychic process essential to this knowledge of ones inner essence and in reaching out to the world of others' Willeford clearly believes that the psychological function of feeling is fundamental to the discovery of integrity and our delight we are able to take in it".

"Like thinking, feeling is a function Jung places on the rational axis of his compass of personality, the axis our psychological consciousness that is interested in ordering experience through understanding . This recognition that feeling is just as rational in it's aim and design as thinking understanding, was a landmark in the history of thought, a break with tradition, because philosophy had always confused feeling with emotion, denying it the status of reason and mistaking it, in a misapplied compliment to the feeling function, for the affective influence of the irrational.

Thus, Pascals, "the heart has it's reason which reason knows nothing of". But Jung saw through the pretensions of feeling types, to recognise, as a good psychologist, that feeling can deny or attempt to control the irrational just as effectively as thinking. In fact, feeling loves to bring order to emotion (as we see through the rhetoric of psychotherapy; sort it out, work through it, talk it out), and the means it employs in doing so, are rational, involving the conscientious application of values and relationship.

(Further), feeling is involved, just as much as thinking, in "judging" which feelings go where, and how much weight is to be put on them. Feeling is an option we can exercise in judging our experience of integrity. It is a way of making that experience more harmonious to ourselves and, if we want it to be that way, more in harmony with a universal order of duty or love".

From John Beebe, "Integrity in depth".

As an ENTJ, I really do believe feeling is important, even if I won't show it. Without it, you just feel.....numb. And that sucks

I'm no professional salesman, but I've heard and observed that emotions (feelings) are the basic of most, if not all, actions. That's why salesman, promoters, politicians, public relations - pretty much anyone who wants to exert influence - try to appeal to your emotions in order to have their way. Logic may help sway you one direction, but it's ultimately your feelings that direct your actions. It can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you use it. And I'm saying this as a thinker. For instance, I feel strongly about logical coherence haha.

Originally Posted by topgun31

As an ENTJ, I really do believe feeling is important, even if I won't show it. Without it, you just feel.....numb. And that sucks

I'm no professional salesman, but I've heard and observed that emotions (feelings) are the basic of most, if not all, actions. That's why salesman, promoters, politicians, public relations - pretty much anyone who wants to exert influence - try to appeal to your emotions in order to have their way. Logic may help sway you one direction, but it's ultimately your feelings that direct your actions. It can be a good or bad thing, depending on how you use it. And I'm saying this as a thinker. For instance, I feel strongly about logical coherence haha.

I love how you put that. :) I agree, it's definitely apparent in sales environments where people have to make an important decision.

Originally Posted by hziegel

I love how you put that. :) I agree, it's definitely apparent in sales environments where people have to make an important decision.

Thanks! And yes feeling helps to forge empathy - which is important in almost every facet of life. This is why corporations, business, government institutions etc. value EQ alot more than IQ. I was pretty good at writing in college, and, in my writing, it was my use of pathos - more so than logos and ethos - that made my papers so good.

Another example of the importance of feeling to thinkers comes from one of the most famous INTPs of all time - Albert Einstein. You can tell that he was more than just a dry academic:

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds"

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

Originally Posted by topgun31

Thanks! And yes feeling helps to forge empathy - which is important in almost every facet of life. This is why corporations, business, government institutions etc. value EQ alot more than IQ. I was pretty good at writing in college, and, in my writing, it was my use of pathos - more so than logos and ethos - that made my papers so good.

Another example of the importance of feeling to thinkers comes from one of the most famous INTPs of all time - Albert Einstein. You can tell that he was more than just a dry academic:

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

"Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds"

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

:) I wish all the NTs were reading this now. It saddens me how much some of them force themselves away from thoughts of empathy because they think it's distracting or useless. They're just hurting themselves.

Hmm, I find this an interesting discussion because sometimes, though I am more feeler, I feel I am on the brink of being a feeler and thinker. For example, when a situation occurs, lets say some sort of problem. I use my Fi to establish how I feel about it, and then I use my logic to try and find a solution. I have noticed I tend to be more rational then some of my feeler friends that sometimes just act on a whim which ends up leaving them embarrassed or regretful. Although I definitely have times when I work completely out of emotion and impulse. Though in the back of my head I logically know I should not be doing what Im doing. I guess thats what makes me a feeler...

But basically I find a balance to be important. How can you know what to do in any given situation without establishing what it means to you in the first place? Also feelings definitely help you connect to other people. Last time I checked, nobody gets close through cold logical discussions.

Originally Posted by Intuit

Hmm, I find this an interesting discussion because sometimes, though I am more feeler, I feel I am on the brink of being a feeler and thinker. For example, when a situation occurs, lets say some sort of problem. I use my Fi to establish how I feel about it, and then I use my logic to try and find a solution. I have noticed I tend to be more rational then some of my feeler friends that sometimes just act on a whim which ends up leaving them embarrassed or regretful. Although I definitely have times when I work completely out of emotion and impulse. Though in the back of my head I logically know I should not be doing what Im doing. I guess thats what makes me a feeler...

But basically I find a balance to be important. How can you know what to do in any given situation without establishing what it means to you in the first place? Also feelings definitely help you connect to other people. Last time I checked, nobody gets close through cold logical discussions.

Many people seem to come closer to that line with age, especially if they do a lot of self development. Part of personality development is realizing that we were born with all 8 functions, and that we must find some form of balance between sensing and intuiting, thinking and feeling. If your functions are particularly extreme, you'll probably notice some serious impairment in specific areas of your daily life that most people eventually try to fix.