Quote Originally Posted by jroc View Post
By 'playing intellectual games', I think ILIs are actually mocking Ti. The demonstrative function is one of the strongest after all, but not valued, so it's not surprising to me that an ILI would challenge someone else's logical structure. An ILI would be able to easily find the flaws in another's Ti system and criticize it, and if immature, they'd probably add insult to injury.

Tbh I think this is part of the reason why ILIs seem to have garnered a reputation for being 'mean' in the socionics community (which I think is predominantly Ti-Fe). Understandably, Ti-valuers don't want their system to be attacked lol.

I don't agree that they'll be constantly testing or riddling people; however, I do think that this type typically has no problem with disagreeing and pointing out flaws, and either unintentionally or intentionally, coming across as harsh due to Fe-polr.
Hitting the nail on the head I'd say. Hell, Jung himself was an IEI so - was his bag but I digress. I don't think the folks actually mind their systems being challenged so much as seeing them getting defied with positive results IRL. A "universalist" ethic dislikes seeing a "particularistic" ethic playing out better overall.

This is why the dichotomy of the quadras plays out as it does. From my end us Gamma's are totally particularistic whereas Alphas are totally universalist. - and - all share one common factor/assumption. There is only one true and possible reality. Only one or two (give or take) possible optimal outcomes. Likewise, there is a single "best" way to do something given the factors we're actually dealing with/know about. Efficiency matters more than it probably ought to for a Gamma.

It's crystalized in our particular war against the Alphas but it gets a bit muddled in the war between Beta and Delta. We Gammas can and do agree with both on several points but it's all about that implementation. They have a foot in both pools, but the angles those pools approach situations is similarly diametrically opposed. So they're either annoyed by or appreciative of our efforts to help them, but end of the day we're still not fully "getting it" from their end and the sentiment is shared.

The other two quadra types get at least a bit of what we're going for, but that last one... Gah! So close, so close!​ Yet so far. Oh so very far....