How Strong are the Foundations of Socionics?

Gulenko V.V. How strong are the bases of socionics

“Scientific theories are metaphorical stories about this world, they are not the truth, 
it’s just one of many ways to think about the world, just like drawing is one of many ways of 
representing a landscape.” 
J. O'Connor, D. Seymour

A bit of history

How does socionics begin? Not from types, but from universals - the basic 
components of communication, which I will call communicative 
functions. The term 
“aspect”, which is familiar to some socionic schools , does not suit me because it 
contains objective, corpuscular semantics, and there is nothing of the 
process. In addition, this word belongs exclusively to the visual 
modality and therefore does not suit people with kinesthetic or 
auditory perception.
The concept of “aspect”, first used by E.Shepetko, is 
interpreted in the works of Vilnius socionics school, as well as a number of 
Kiev schools as an “element”. In the works of V. Yermak, the aspect is 
dichotomically opposed to the function according to the principle of 
raw materials / tools. Function like a tool "grinds" 
incoming raw materials - the flow of information aspects.
I want to remind you that the dichotomy of an element / function or, 
equivalently, an aspect / function has a long history. The elementary understanding of 
the communication process is historically identical to the program of 
structuralism of  V.Wundt, who sought the building 
material of the psyche and its structure.
The first to oppose the Wundt program was the Austrian psychologist 
F. Brentano, the founder of the theory of mental functions. The intentional 
act (the orientation of the psyche at the object), according to Brentano, works not with 
elements-aspects, but with functions-processes. Later the 
name of functionalism was fixed to this anti-structuralist trend 
The head of the US functionalists, William James, argued that the psyche is not a 
“chain of elements”, but an undifferentiated “stream of 
consciousness”.
I believe that the principle of reflection customary for structuralists 
(movement of information from object to subject) should be supplemented with the 
principle of projection (movement of information from subject to object). 
Then the socionic structuralism suffering from static will sooner or 
later acquire a more active form. Judging from these positions, a function 
is not so much a tool for processing information received on it 
, but rather an intentional generator of meaning, organizing the 
external world according to its specificity.
Of course, each author has the right to enter the base components 
in his own way . And what ways of interpreting communicative functions 
exist in principle? What caused the choice of the author of a particular 
path?
 In this article, I will focus on four ways of interpreting 
communicative functions - natural science, psychological, 
everyday, and philosophical. They will represent four aspects - 
points of view on how socionic functions can be introduced into everyday life. 
In other words, our task is to comprehend their 
ontology .

1. Natural science aspect

This way was Aushra, and now most of socionic 
theorists are marching In Kiev, this is primarily V. Yermak. His “Dictionary of 
Aspects of the Information Flow” [2] is completely in line with 
the general psychological tradition of structuralism mentioned by me, and if we 
take more broadly - the philosophy of positivism.
The natural science aspect requires the introduction of functions through physical 
correlates - matter, energy, space and time, which 
most Ausra followers do. As a result 
, the spirit of positivism has firmly taken root in modern socionics The “father” of this 
epistemological trend, A. Comte (1798-1857), dreamed of rebuilding the 
humanities in the manner of physics. Fortunately, he failed.
The positivist attack on socionics is strong, but its plans and 
results are quite vulnerable to criticism. Why should the methodology of 
natural sciences be transferred to humanitarian sciences that have their own 
specifics? Reductionism in socionics cannot be justified: it stems 
from narrowness of thinking, and a socionically literate person should have a 
broad outlook. Nomothetic (model) and ideographic 
research methods , equality and specialization of which have long been substantiated 
in the Baden school of neo-Kantianism (Windelband, Rickert) are 
inappropriate to oppose. It is better to combine them.
Secondly , why is the outdated physical paradigm — 
classical Newtonian physics — taken You can not treat the space 
mechanically - as a repository of objects. Indeed, according to the theory of 
relativity, the geometry of the protransport is determined by the properties of the bodies that 
are placed in it. Time is also not a simple 
duration. Gravitational fields change its course. Non-classical 
science has long revealed the shortcomings of Newtonian mechanics. We are also 
presented with the Newtonian picture of the world as the sociological 
foundations of socionics.
Why in socionics, studying the quantum nature of the psyche, is not 
considered the active role of the observer for communicative 
action? After all, he brings aspects to the information flow. Where is the 
special anthropological function? In this article, for me as a 
relativist, it is important to take a meta-position that opens 
when you become an observer for observers.
Consider another version of the physical interpretation of universals. 
Open systems exchange substance, energy and 
information with the external environment If information is opposed to energy, then what is the 
antipode of the substance? Obviously, the field. The field is irreducible neither to matter, nor to 
energy, nor to information. The substance and the field form a moving matter.
If we compare these four physical categories with 
Jung's functions , the connection will obviously be as follows: the real component of 
communication corresponds to sensation, energy to ethics, 
information to logic, and the field to intuition.
It is useful to apply to your reasoning the operation of reversibility. 
The researcher of children's thinking, J.Piaget, experimentally showed that 
each stage of the child’s intellectual development ends with the 
mastery of the reversibility of mental constructions. Suppose that our 
child has grown up enough to not get hung up on the same 
aspect.
If we reverse the course of our reasoning and swap logic / ethics 
and sensory / intuition with extra / introversion and 
rationality / irrationality functions , which, by the way, in Yermak 
are not “aspects”, we get an equally convincing 
picture of the reflection of the external world by the individual psyche.
 In an inverted system, extroversion will denote the 
materialistic orientation of the psyche, and its opposite, 
introversion, will be idealistic. Rationality gives rise to the perception of the 
world divided into parts - objects that are in 
causal relationships with each other , and irrationality makes the world whole, 
continually-wave and synchronous, that is, acausal.
For aspect socionics, the theory is unexpected and 
contradicts their attitudes. But its author is none other than CG Jung. 
Jung's thesis on the correspondence of extra / introversion to two ancient philosophical 
trends, to which the first chapter of “Psychological 
Types” is devoted , and his concept of synchronicity
would not hurt at least to mention the current “aspect builders.
There is also a biological version of the natural science approach. Its 
developers hypostasize the direct connection of functions with different areas 
of the brain.
Ermak repeats the traditional view that rational functions 
correspond to the left hemisphere, and irrational functions - to the right. But how 
to deal with the function of emotions? She is in the right hemisphere, 
although it belongs to the rational class of functions.
Counter-approach is found in A. Filimonov [11]. Ratio and irrational 
functions in his theory are evenly distributed over both hemispheres. He 
tries to prove that dynamic 
functions are localized in the left hemisphere , and static functions in the right hemisphere .
This bold hypothesis contradicts the generally accepted position that 
structurality and formalism, that is, the function L , is characteristic of the left 
hemisphere. Perhaps the scrupulous brain researcher A. Filimonov 
interprets the structure as a function of business logic (P)? In 
any case, his neurophysiological erudition is admirable.
I think that this impasse can be overcome if we assume that 
logic and sensory (managerial 
functions) belong to the left hemisphere , and emotions and intuitive thinking (humanitarian 
functions) to the right hemisphere Socials (ethics + sensorics) and Scientists (logic + intuition) 
will then turn out to be types with relatively balanced inter-hemispheric 
thinking.
Can physicalism and biologism be countered by something more 
intelligible? I think the reader would be attracted to the point of view of common sense, 
avoiding the clutter of schemes. Here is one example. A.Toffler in his 
bestseller "Futurok" listed the main components of all 
situations: things, places, people, organizations and ideas [3]. In addition, all 
this develops in time.
The idea of ​​Toffler is simple and clear. Contact with things happens through the 
sensory channel, with people as animate beings through the 
ethical. Organizations arise through logic, and ideas are generated 
and perceived through intuition. Places set the statics of 
communication, and time - the dynamics. Schematically it might look like 
this:
                                 ideas
                                  / \
                     people <- -="" psyche=""> organizations
                                  \ /
                                 things
And now we will take into account that a person is in contact with things, people, 
organizations and ideas in a certain place and a certain time. 
If we introduce the space (space) factor, it will rotate the 
structure around its own axis, and the action of the time factor 
will blur the clear picture. The Toffler scheme suggests 
that the static / dynamic dichotomy, which the aspect specialists avoid 
, is no less fundamental than the usual Jung scales. 
Sign static describes the geometry of space, and dynamics - the course of 
time.

2. Psychological aspect

During the trainings it is convenient to introduce communicative functions through 
mental states. What does a person think, feel and feel when the 
corresponding function becomes dominant? This approach 
is described in more detail in my article “Man and the world in the language of universals” 
[12], where I summarized my experience in training work.
The simplest version of the psychological introduction of Jung functions 
(sensory, intuition, feeling and thinking) can be the following. 
There are four means of communication that people resort to when 
interacting:
  1. speech as the transfer of some information (logical channel),
  2. intonation, gestures, facial expressions, breathing rhythm (ethical channel),
  3. exchange of objects and contacts (sensory channel),
  4. eye contact, mind reading (intuitive channel).
We continue our brief excursion into psychology. In this science in 
one form or another, mental processes-functions are constantly emerging. Many theories 
play on the textbook triad mind - feeling - will .
In the framework of this tradition, for example, N.Gosudarev’s theory of a 
“triangular” (three-functional) person was built [7]. The first corner 
in his triangle is occupied by a sensorimotor person, whose communication is 
guided by the needs of the body. It is followed by an emotional person 
who is motivated by such feelings as love-hate. And 
the figure is completed by a rational person who goes to his goals under the 
guidance of his mind. Sovereign, obviously, once again 
"opens" the functions of sensorics, ethics, logic. Intuition as 
an independent function is absent.
The ternary organization of the human person is also reproduced in 
A. Galina [8]. He identifies 3 types of thinking - figurative-sensual, 
conceptual-logical and emotional. He does not reject intuition, as the 
Sovereign, but considers a special function, which is a synthesis of these 
three aspects of thinking.
Three types of personality propose to identify and N. Obozov, namely: the 
thinker, practitioner, communicator [9]. The thinker is most effective in the 
cognitive (cognitive) sphere. Communicator in the field of communication and 
interpersonal relationships. The practitioner to a specific activity with 
clearly defined objectives of a substantive nature.
Finally, let us turn to the classical theory of higher mental 
functions in LSVygotsky (1896 - 1934). Instead of the natural scientific 
functionalism, this scientist developed the cultural-historical and 
sign-speech aspects of the psyche.
He explained the events of human life through four classes of mental 
functions: 1) associated with a biological organism (socionic 
sensory), 2) interpersonal communication (socionic ethics), 3) 
formation of meaning (socionic logic) and 4) culture - historical 
continuity of ideas (socionic intuition ).
Thus, the socionic theory of communicative functions, if one 
examines, in principle, does not contradict traditional psychology. 
Socionics, apparently, has spun off all the same from the psychological stem.

3. Everyday aspect

The most intuitive and accessible touch method of introducing 
communicative functions. But he, unfortunately, the least 
developed. Here we are interested in bodily constitution, face shapes, 
gait, pitch, health, clothes, everyday habits - all 
that we encounter daily in everyday life.
The sensory aspect of socionics is similar to the theory of E. Krechmer [4] 
based on the premise that people with a certain type of body build have 
similar mental characteristics.
Socionic proportions here are as follows. The elongation (squareness) of the 
body speaks of intuition, breadth and squat (triangle) - about 
sensation. The square proportions of the figures testify to logic, and the 
rounded ones indicate ethics.
Sensory physique types are picnic and athletic ( S - and F- sensory ). The picnic ( S- sensory ) has a full figure, a broad face, a noticeable abdomen, a chest cell widening downwards. Athletic ( F -sensory ) is distinguished by a developed musculature, broad shoulders, a large chest, its torso narrows to its waist.
Opposite them asthenic (brain) constitutional type - intuitive ( T-intuition ). Its constitutional features are as follows: thinness, elongated limbs, narrow shoulders, flat chest, weak muscles.
Distinction of communication affects the styles of clothing. Touch style - functional, comfortable. Logical style - official, uniform. Ethical style - elegant. Intuitive style - avant-garde, or disregard for appearance.
The real art is the ability to distinguish between types of sight. 
The touch view is sharp (clearly focused), intuitive - 
blurred (defocused), ethical - shiny and wet, 
logical - dull and dry.
Certain information is provided by the type of movement in space, in 
particular, the nature of the walk. The intuitive gait is scattered, clumsy, 
uncoordinated. Logical gait angular, discrete, clear. 
Sensory gait - elastic, confident, well-coordinated. 
Ethical gait is smooth, aesthetic, some 
manners.
It is useful for socionics to know about three types of representative systems in 
neuro-linguistic programming [10].
  1. Visual representative system . Such a person speaks 
    quickly and in a high tone. His breathing is upper and rather superficial. 
    Often there is an increased muscle tension, particularly in the 
    shoulders. Chin raised high, face paler than usual. This 
    person has a strong intuitive function.
  2. Audio representative system . People who think 
    sounds breathe with their whole breasts. Often there are small rhythmic 
    body movements, and the tone of the voice is clear, expressive and resonating. 
    The head is balancing on the shoulders or slightly tilted to one of them, as 
    if listening to  something . Some audiologically-minded people repeat 
    what they have just heard, in time with their breathing. Audience 
    corresponds to two functions - ethics and logic.
  3. Kinesthetic representative system . Kinesthetic 
    differs deep deep breathing in the abdomen, often 
    accompanied by muscular relaxation. Head low. 
    The voice is low pitched. Says such a person slowly, with long 
    pauses. Kinesthetics in socionics corresponds to the function of sensory.
Let's not forget that a person is endowed with free will, which allows 
deviating from the typically prescribed behavior, and is subject to the influence of 
the environment. Comparing a particular person with a socionic 
standard, it is very easy to confuse the Ego with the Person [6]. Therefore, the touch 
method of diagnosis is very unreliable. In order not to cause rejection of the 
public, it is necessary to repeatedly make a reservation about the close intertwining and 
imposition in the real person of all functional signs.

4. Philosophical aspect

For people with a high philosophical culture, an 
ideational (intuitive) way of presenting information will be justified - through the history of 
humanitarian ideas. It is in this way that CG Jung proves the 
existence of an extrovert and introverted mind set [1].
Let's try to follow Jung and we. Choosing 
ancient Greek philosophy as a starting point, let us follow the four main branches of the 
movement of the ideological heritage in time from one school to another.
  1. The sensory line of development of ideas: natural philosophers -> 
    Democritus's atomism -> Epicurus -> medieval nominalism (Roscelin, Ockham, etc.) 
    -> British empiricism (Locke, etc.) -> American pragmatism (Pierce, 
    James, etc.).
  2. The logical line : sophists -> Aristotle's syllogistic -> 
    scholasticism -> Descartes rationalism -> Comte's positivism -> 
    Vienna circle neopositivism .
  3. Ethical line : Socrates -> Stoics -> Renaissance humanism 
    -> philosophy of life -> German anthropology (M. Scheler, etc.) -> 
    existentialism.
  4. Intuitive line : Eleatics (Parmenides, etc.) -> Plato -> 
    Neo-Platonism (Plotinus, and others.) -> medieval realism (Eriugena, 
    Anselm, etc.) -> German classics (Hegel et al.) -> Jung (the theory of 
    archetypes ).
In Kiev, S. Churyumov is most involved in this aspect. As 
for V. Yermak, who develops the concept of N. Medvedev, he, 
although he filled it with numerous logical details, but, 
unfortunately, completely lost its specific philosophical meaning.
In particular, the fundamental 
philosophical problem of the nature of universals has been overlooked It requires an answer to the 
question: are the communicative functions / aspects an objective 
given or is it just our thoughts about it? Historically, 
four responses crystallized:
  • realism (Plato-Jung position), insisting 
    that universals exist objectively and determine the psychology of 
    human behavior,
  • nominalism : the opposite position, proving that 
    universals are nothing more than a nominal phenomenon, that is, conventions, 
    labels; these views are held by neuro-linguistic 
    programmers who claim that the solid type is a prejudice and a fiction, 
    it can be modified at will
  • Aristotelianism (moderate realism): universals coexist with 
    concrete things, being their function or form,
  • Conceptualism (moderate nominalism): universals exist 
    as concepts generalized by consciousness that are in our mind.
I am not familiar with such a science that would not declare that it is 
guided by a systematic approach. Such is socionics. But how 
to understand the consistency?
Ermak gives an elementary understanding of the system - as a 
set of interacting elements [2, p. 65]. As 
I have already said, the long 
-term research program of W. Wundt, which intended to calculate the 
primary elements of the psyche, and then discover the laws by which 
structures are formed from them , rests on such a systematic interpretation .
I often adhere to a holistic alternative, which 
understands the system in the opposite way - as a network of connections 
filled with untyped elements. So we went back 
to where we started — to history. It's time to sum up.
So, in the "Aspects Dictionary ..." - a work devoted to the 
multidimensional 
nature of information, the subject is described to the extreme in one aspect. Perhaps the author, not admitting it publicly, considers 
his aspect as the best? As one famous philosopher said, the 
only lesson in history is that 
no lessons are learned from it However that may be, such a purposeful and firm 
position deserves respect.

Literature:

  1. Jung K.G. Psychological types. Under total ed. V.Zelensky. SPb., 
    “Yuventa”, M., “Progress - Univers”, 1995.
  2. Ermak V.D. Dictionary of information flow aspects. // 
    Socionics, mentology and personality psychology, №1, 1998.
  3. Toffler A. Futurok. St. Petersburg: Lan, 1997, p.37.
  4. Krechmer E. Body structure and character. M., 1995.
  5. Gulenko V.V. Philosophical roots of socionics. // Socionics, 
    mentology and personality psychology, №1, 1998.
  6. Gulenko V.V. Man as a type system. The problem of diagnosing ego 
    and persona. Kiev, 02.02.1998.
  7. Gosudarev N.A. The triangular man. - M .: Mol.guardiya, 1991.
  8. Galin A.L. Personality and creativity. Psychological studies. 
    Novosibirsk, Novosibirsk book publishing house , 1989.
  9. Obozov N.N., Shchekin G.V. Psychology of working with people: Advice to the 
    head. - K .: Politizdat of Ukraine, 1990, p. 102 - 114.
  10. O'Connor J., Seymour J. Introduction to neuro-linguistic 
    programming. / Per. from English - Chelyabinsk, "Version", 
    1997, pp.62 - 63.
  11. Filimonov A.V. Physiological basis for analytical 
    psychology of C. Jung and A. Augustinavichiute socionics. // Socionics, 
    mentology and personality psychology, No. 6, 1997.
  12. Gulenko V.V. Expressive possibilities of mental states. 
    Man and the world is the language of universals. Kiev, 04/09/1995.

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