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PHQ | QUESTIONS FROM COMMUNITY: In this episode Joel and Antonia answer a question about music type theory and the idea of having a donation button on the Personality Hacker website.

In this episode Joel and Antonia answer a question about music type theory and the idea of having a donation button on the Personality Hacker website.

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39 comments

  • Charis Branson
    • Charis Branson
    • September 15, 2017 at 4:08 pm

    Thanks for the comment, Erika. “Tension and Resolution.” That is a fascinating concept with multiple applications. Now I’m going to listen to music and look for that tension and resolution. I can see this as a very interesting rabbit hole. :)

  • Erika
    • Erika
    • September 10, 2017 at 6:46 pm

    Probably no one will ever read this comment, but I’ll just go ahead and write it for my own amusement :)

    I’m a professional musician, and music theory has always been one of my strong suits. The theory, the way it was presented in the PHQ, was almost impossible for me to understand, though. The premise of the circle of fifths having 16 parts is, simply put, wrong. In western music, the octave is divided into 12 parts (or notes/keys), and so is the circle of fifths. So the comparison to the 16 types and the 8 cognitive functions doesn’t work numbers-wise.

    That said, I realised from reading Taylor’s comments on here, that he was using music theory mainly as a metaphor to express an idea, and the details of the metaphor could be seen as secondary.
    If I understand his idea correctly, it is that motion, or maybe rather development, happens through conflict. There is a need, a deficit, a goal, or whatever one wants to call it, and this brings about movement.

    The most important teacher I had during my studies, said that music is tension and resolution.

    So one could say that the beauty of music comes from tension and resolution, tension and resolution, tension and resolution. I don’t play chess, but I would imagine that the enjoyment of it comes from solving the challenge, the problem set up by the rules of the game.

    In a similar way, personal development happens through tension, conflict, discomfort, and the willingness to work through those. The enjoyment of music comes from a willingness to be present with the tension and resolution comprised in it (and different people have different tolerance levels for tension in music).

    It has been interesting to consider these ideas and formulate my take on them, so thank you.

  • Knut A. W. Jøsok
    • Knut A. W. Jøsok
    • February 28, 2017 at 6:15 am

    Thought I add a verse from a famous song by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. I think this sums up life and the quote as well.

    “Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony
    Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord, why don’t we?

    We all know that people are the same where ever you go
    There is good and bad in everyone,
    We learn to live, we learn to give
    Each other what we need to survive together alive."

    Hope everyone has a great day/night! :)

  • Knut A. W. Jøsok
    • Knut A. W. Jøsok
    • February 28, 2017 at 6:08 am

    Hi, guys fellow musician and analyst here (INTP) I think you guys might have read too much into the quote. I rather think that Robert Laughlin meant the relationship between 2 opposite forces. I totally agree that there is music involved, but I will try to explain my take on it.

    Male & Female
    Ying & Yang
    Major & Minor
    Ebony & Ivory
    Husband & Wife
    Thinkers & Feelers
    Night & Day
    Moon & Sun
    Religion & Atheism
    Attack & Defence
    Nature & Science
    Good & Bad
    Light & Dark
    Introvert & Extrovert

    All are 2 opposite poles, and one of them might seem to be dominate, but they both need each other to create harmony.

    It’s a beautiful quote and my take might be wrong, but I’d love to hear your opinions.

  • Mike
    • Mike
    • July 27, 2016 at 5:52 am

    Even Newton’s Third Law (Action-Reaction) plays into this distinct interplay between dominant and inferior. Without the resistance of a counterforce, the definition of a force would be meaningless. All forces need counterforces/resistance to generate proper semantic meaning.

    Actually the interplay of opposites (like light/dark) also play into this pole, as dark is only defined with respect to the lack of light. Without the property of light, dark simply has no meaning. Likewise, any amount of light automatically negates dark…so these two terms will naturally be interwoven in a highly definitional way, in precisely the manner in which dominant and inferior opposite (just as you nicely described). It all very much makes sense.

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