Fi and its relation to empathy

[MysticSonic]

I was thinking in general about the idea of empathy and how it could possibly relate to Fi. That is, what are the aspects of Fi that require an understanding of others and how it relates to themselves, and how does this effect their Fi "system" of relations and ethics?

I was sort of thinking along the terms that what governs the Fi system and things related to how they feel others should treat and be treated might be specifically related to how they themselves feel about things. These feelings about particular matters/issues would then perhaps be projected upon how others feel about it through an empathic theory of mind, assuming to a certain degree that people will react, within limits and expectations that they are already aware of, and would therefore mean that to a great degree their subjective idea of how people should be treated would be modeled by how they themselves would want to be treated. Obviously people develop personal understandings of people and individual ideas and understandings of particular people, but I was wondering if this is sort of the concept or model a lot of people employ when trying to ascertain various ideas about whether a situation is going "right" in terms of how the people are being treated and are acting.

For instance, it would make a great deal of sense to me that someone whom is well acquainted with the hardships of poverty may expect a greater amount of tolerance for lack of things and their perception of others being spoiled would be much greater than someone who would otherwise be much better off, simply due to the fact that they themselves have come to accept not having as much as others do. I was sort of wondering, basically, if this is the source of the great amount of subjectivity? That is, if this is the process that is going on.

Ideas, opinions, comments? Am I making sense? lol

[Creepy-bg]

I just skimmed your post, but there was another empathy related thread from the past month or two you might want to look at... I think it's in General Discussion.

[Lobo]

For instance, it would make a great deal of sense to me that someone whom is well acquainted with the hardships of poverty may expect a greater amount of tolerance for lack of things and their perception of others being spoiled would be much greater than someone who would otherwise be much better off, simply due to the fact that they themselves have come to accept not having as much as others do. I was sort of wondering, basically, if this is the source of the great amount of subjectivity? That is, if this is the process that is going on.

By saying that it is greatly subjective, I think you have answered your own question . Ij's in general are systematic, at least in thought, and in order to build a system you need information. The type of information received depends on the person's particular life experiences, therefore I would see that as very subjective. I doubt that someone who has never seen or experienced poverty, has the same information available as someone who has. Sometimes you need more info to actually "understand" some aspects better, which means actually being in the particular situation, or being in close "proximity" to it. However, I don't see Fi and Ti types not being able to change their way of looking at things if something ends up being different than what they thought and predicted (I would call it the "enlightenment" feeling, "duh" moments). This can lead to stubbornness sometimes too .