So, I decided to share my answers to a questionnaire from another site – which seems to have a dead socionics subforum where no one responds – in the hope that someone can give a good interpretation of my answers that would lead to the assignment of a socionics type. I am not well-read when it comes to socionics, so I would like a good, complete and (above all) clear interpretation, if someone could provide me with that. Please do not give me just the type itself, but also the interpretation that led you to assign that type.
Thank you!
1. What is beauty? What is love?
Beauty exists in the apprehension of the sublime, which is a subjective experience that is characterized by its universality (despite its subjectivity); when you have an aesthetic experience, i.e. an experience of the sublime, you believe that everyone should judge the object of your experience as an exalted, higher, beautiful or 'sacred' object. If you do not believe that everyone should accept the beauty of the object of your experience, then you cannot be said to have an experience of something beautiful, but then you can only be said to have an experience of something likable or agreeable to your constitution. The beautiful is something that makes you realize, perhaps only upon reflection, that it has a universal value that goes beyond the sort of value that is a result of one's personal taste or preference, so to say. Coincidentally, this is why most modern art is not really art, because it is made to appeal to just some group or other; not to everyone.
Love is more difficult to define, because it is multifaceted and has, among other things, physiological, psychological, cultural and intellectual aspects. However, I think it is safe to say that love has to do with a certain kind of unconditional commitment to the object of one's love, but I do not think I can say much more than that in a general definition. What I exclude from the concept of love is conditional love, though; no such love exists. One cannot say, for example, "I will love you until/unless/while/if [condition a]," because love is something that comes with an unconditional commitment to something or someone; when that commitment disappears, the love itself ceases to exist.
2. What are your most important values?
Honesty, (discursive) rationality or reasonableness, love, justice and (self-)respect.
3. Do you have any sort of spiritual/religious beliefs, and why do you hold (or don't) those beliefs in the first place?
Not particularly. I can be said to be religious in an old-fashioned sense that is bound to be misunderstood, which has something to do with a certain poetic or aesthetic attitude towards life. However, I do not believe in any deity or personal god, and I have a great intellectual contempt of monotheism, or any religion that reifies its god(s) for that matter. So, in the modern sense of the word, I am an irreligious person (read: an atheist).
4. Opinion on war and militaries? What is power to you?
War is bound to occur between peoples with conflicting goals or values. I believe that to fight for one's values can be good and honorable, but it is still to be avoided unless fighting is the only conceivable way to keep your values alive, and it can only be good and honorable to fight for one's values if these values agree with some rational standard. However, most of the time one should avoid war and conflict and be content with what one has. To fight for anything less than rational values that can only be saved through conflict, is one of the worst barbarities one could commit, I think, but I am also not a pacifist. The military is simply a means to the end of fighting for one's values; armies could, in principle, be completely disbanded if there was nothing worth fighting for.
5. What have you had long conversations about? What are your interests? Why?
Philosophy, philosophy and philosophy.
(Yes, philosophy is even the short answer to the 'Why?' question, because philosophy justifies itself; there is no such thing as too much philosophy.)
6. Interested in health/medicine as a conversation topic? Are you focused on your body?
Not at all. Max Stirner once wrote that a man must fall in love with his body and the actual spheres of action in which he operates, which is a remark that I find puzzling. In fact, if I could live without my body, I probably would; provided that this does not entail the loss of any values or capacities that are important to me. It is regrettable that in anything I do or value, I am apparently dependent on my body.
7. What do you think of daily chores?
They are usually boring and I do not like to be reminded of them.
8. Books or films you liked? Recently read/watched or otherwise. Examples welcome.
Books:
-'The World as Will and Representation', by Arthur Schopenhauer
-'Thus Spoke Zarathustra', by Friedrich Nietzsche
-'Moby-Dick; or, The Whale', by Herman Melville
-'The History of Walter Pieterse', by Multatuli
-'Enchiridion', by Epictetus
Films:
-The Matrix
-Cloud Atlas
-Any film made by Stanley Kubrick
-1900/Novecento
-Psycho
9. What has made you cry? What has made you smile? Why?
Things that made me cry: thoughts of losing people and things precious to me. Certain profound works of art. I do not think I can or should produce the reasons for this.
Things that made me smile: all sorts of little perfections; smiles of children, innocence, beauty, but also little imperfections, such as people making a faux pas or saying or doing incongruent things. I do not think I can or should produce the reasons for this.
10. Where do you feel: at one with the environment/a sense of belonging?
Usually I feel especially comfortable in tranquil and quiet places, but I feel at home in many places. I always feel alienated in places that have an artificial and busy vibe about them, including nightclubs and certain workplaces.
11. What have people seen as your weaknesses? What do you dislike about yourself?
People think my relentlessness in debates and my social blind spots are my weaknesses. I do not particularly dislike things about myself, but I think it would be good for me if I was not as lazy and scatter-brained about my daily activities and I also believe that I should (perhaps) learn to be more sociable, although I am not sure whether that would really do me any good.
12. What have people seen as your strengths? What do you like about yourself?
People have told me that they like my honesty. I can always be relied on to give impartial accounts of events and rational feedback. I like many things about myself, but most of all I like my own way of thinking; I really do feel that my thoughts tend to be richer than those expressed by others around me, even if this is just an illusion, and I greatly enjoy my own stream of thoughts. It is like listening to a symphony, and when the thoughts are ugly and do not fall into their proper place, I feel as frustrated as I would feel if I were listening to a really bad rendition of my favorite overture.
13. In what areas of your life would you like help?
None, if possible.
14. Ever feel stuck in a rut? If yes, describe the causes and your reaction to it.
I used to, but that was long ago and I cannot remember its exact causes. I imagine that the cause was boredom and a lack of focus in my life; I think people are always the cause of their own boredom and lack of focus, so I think I was just thinking in the wrong way about what I was doing or trying to do. My reaction was to find my resolution and stick with it.
15. What qualities do you most like and dislike in other people? What types do you get along with?
I get along with quiet, thoughtful people or people who are serious in other ways, besides being quiet and thoughtful. I hate people who do not take themselves or others seriously, they seem to lack personality and purpose to me. I also dislike people who do things 'just because'. If you have no design in mind, then how can you live well?
16. How do you feel about romance/sex? What qualities do you want in a partner?
Having a healthy romantic/sexual life can be a great gift, but it is not necessary for leading a good life. I have always thought of sex as a potentially very spiritual and deeply satisfying activity, but it can also be pleasurable in a purely sensual way. However, romances can also bring you down if you are not careful. You should always ask whether or not your heart is still in a relationship; if you are merely in a relationship because it is convenient or a matter of habit, then you are doing something wrong. But if you really find that you still do care about your relationship and your partner, then romance and sex can only be good, valuable things to have in your life.
17. If you were to raise a child, what would be your main concerns, what measures would you take, and why?
I would want it to be happy and autonomous, but above all I would like to educate the child; make it a more beautiful and responsible person, who is able to handle the important trials and tribulations of life. I believe in what the Germans call Bildung, which is something like a general education that makes the person as a whole better and which can even be seen as the point of philosophy itself, depending on what one's conception of philosophy is.
18. A friend makes a claim that clashes with your current beliefs. What is your inward and outward reaction?
Inward reaction: "Why would (s)he think that? That is evidently wrong!"
Outward reaction: I would try to get to know why (s)he made that claim and I would want to get him/her to justify it or back it up with some kind of evidence or argument.
19. Describe your relationship to society. How do you see people as a whole? What do you consider a prevalent social problem? Name one.
Society is a model of complex relationships between actual people in my head, so my relationship to it is as that of a model-maker to a model. There are of course these actual people and their relationships and interconnections, but that is not what we refer to when we speak about 'society'.
I consider a lack of reflection, solidarity and shared purposes/values to be a prevalent major social problem, and I think that people should do more in order to understand each other and work together.
20. How do you choose your friends and how do you behave around them?
I have never consciously chosen my friends. I just found myself in friendly relationships; I grow into them. I behave very differently around different friends, but I tend to be more jovial and witty around them than I usually am around other people.
21. How do you behave around strangers?
I either behave very reserved or I am very assertive around strangers, depending on what the situation requires of me, but I tend to be business-like around them. I am also more likely to be reserved than assertive in most cases.