Sketches for a General Socionic Model (Search for Hidden Patterns in the Structure of Socionic Theory)
Questimity — creates and defends personal boundaries, personal resource self-sufficiency (the individual’s homeostasis), which is important for an individual with weak immunity.
Aristocratism — creates and defends collective boundaries, collective resource self-sufficiency (the homeostasis of society), which is important for a society that is non-competitive on the global market of goods.
Thus:
- for Qi there are only personal boundaries; the existence of any collective boundaries is denied → individualism
- for Di there are only collective boundaries; the existence of personal boundaries for anyone within society is denied → collectivism
- for Qe a typically developed sense of boundaries (irritability), enhanced protection of homeostasis, linking self-preservation with the preservation of one’s society → endemism
- for De there are no boundaries at all, all-acceptance, a global world and the opportunities it offers for mutually beneficial exchange with outsiders → cosmopolitanism
Ethics — creates and defends personal identity (unconditional values embedded into the personality via imprinting in the early periods of its development).
Merry — creates and defends collective identity (unconditional values embedded into society at the stage of its formation from a community of like-minded people, setting its long-term architecture).
Thus:
- for Fi there is only personal identity, only personal values; universal laws and tendencies are declared insignificant → “personalism,” ethical thinking
- for Ti there is only collective identity, only universal values; personal peculiarities of individuals are declared insignificant → “universalism,” paradigmatic thinking
- for Fe it is typical to understand collective identity as a union of many personal identities; its role is the mutual influence of the personal and the collective through strong emotions → subjectivism, “transpersonalism,” magical thinking
- Te does not believe in any stable identities or unconditional values; from Te’s viewpoint everything is conditional and situational, determined by what is objectively advantageous at the moment for the interacting actors → objectivism, “utilitarianism,” pragmatic thinking
Intuition — creates and defends the right to use one’s personal “prosthesis” — a complex intellect that compensates, for an individual with imprecisely tuned perceptual filters, their physical weakness and non-competitiveness when competing on the same field (in the same ecological niche) with more stenic and physically skilled neighbors.
Judiciousness — creates and defends collective “prostheses” (science, culture), which compensate for a society that has moved too far from the model of wild nature toward humanism, for its weakness and non-competitiveness when competing on the same field (in the same ecological niche) with more primitively structured and aggressive neighbors.
Thus:
- for Ni there is only the subject’s personal intellect, which they must hide in a society arranged according to the principle of the dominance of the naturally strong and negatively disposed toward any intellectual values
- for Si there is only collective intellect, which a naturally non-intellectual subject is forced to take interest in, in a society whose very survival depends on how much it can raise its overall cultural level
- for Ne it is typical to understand collective intellect as the natural co-creation of many personal intellects, where the overall success depends on how free and friendly toward creative individuals the social environment is (respectful of their weaknesses and tolerant of deviations)
- Se does not believe in intellectual values; it holds that everything is decided on the field of power and politico-manipulative competition for resources, where the most enduring, self-confident, brave, and persistent get the best
If the activity of the individual and of society for some function coincide in meaning, then this function urges the individual to be more socially active, therefore such a function is extraverted. If the activity of the individual and of society for some function are opposite in meaning, this suppresses the individual’s social activity for that function, making it introverted. (That is, for example: the aims of Questimity and Aristocratism coincide, therefore the questim aristocratic function Qe is extraverted; the aims of sensorics and judiciousness differ, therefore the sensory-judiciouss function Si is introverted, etc.)
The pole of statics determines the dominant (value-setting) function in a given type of society.
The pole of dynamics determines the adapting (serving, searching for resources to support the dominant) function in a given type of society:
- In democrats, Questimity dominates, and Declatimity adapts — the interests of the individual are primary; society is a situationally formed market for resource exchange between different individuals.
- In aristocrats, Declatimity dominates, and Questimity adapts — the interests of society are primary; the individual adapts situationally to the established market, seeking their niche in it.
- In serious types, Ethics dominates, and Logic adapts — at the basis of everything objectively happening (funding of a given production, construction, scientific direction; the start of a war or, conversely, friendship between countries) lies someone’s deeply personal “I want it this way,” “I see it this way,” “I was offended, therefore…”
- In merry types, Logic dominates, and Ethics adapts — the upbringing of the individual, of each personal identity, is subordinated to some conscious necessity, is carried out and monitored according to a unified ideologized format, and is not left to chance.
- In decisive types, Sensing dominates, and Intuition adapts — the weak invest all their talent in supporting “their own” strong one, because only he can, when necessary, protect them from “foreign” strong ones, who are even less inclined to be ceremonious with the weak who are “foreign” to them.
- In judicious types, Intuition dominates, and Sensing adapts — the strong create a favorable environment for the talented weak, understanding that the development of talents also serves their interests, since it improves society as a whole, raising the standard of living both for them and for their loved ones.