Kurt Gödel (INFJ)

SO! Our second attempt at a historical figure was far easier than the first… because we knew how to avoid the initial author bleed confusion. First, we read a bunch of his quotes, and then the biographical information written about him. We referenced several online articles, but we also made sure to read large portions of Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel. All of our sources can be found at the bottom of the page. I hope you enjoy!

“Gödel certainly impressed me as a man who had freed himself from the mundane struggle. I visited him in the Institute office three times in 1972, and if there is one single thing I remember most, it is his laughter. … The conversation and laughter of Gödel were almost hypnotic. Listening to him I would be filled with the feeling of perfect understanding. He, for his part, was able to follow any of my chains of reasoning to its end almost as soon as I had begun it. What with his strangely informative laughter and his practically instantaneous grasp of what I was saying, a conversation with Gödel was very much like direct telepathic communication.” – Rudy Rucker

Ni:

“What I call the theological worldview is the idea that the world and everything in it has meaning and reason, and in particular a good and indubitable meaning. It follows immediately that our worldly existence, since it has in itself at most a very dubious meaning, can only be means to the end of another existence. The idea that everything in the world has a meaning [reason] is an exact analogue of the principle that everything has a cause, on which rests all of science.” – Kurt Gödel

“Most in Princeton, even his mathematical colleagues, found Gödel, with this ‘interesting axiom’ exponentially complicating every discussion and practical decision, all but impossible to speak with.” – Rebecca Goldstein

“…for Gödel’s intellectual ambitions were audacious, his intuitions fierce, his willingness to carry them to their logical conclusion undeterable…” – Rebecca Goldstein

Kurt Gödel appears to be a Ni dominant. First, he is described as being “extremely solemn, very serious, quite solitary and distrustful of common sense as a means of arriving at the truth.” Obviously many of these are just marks of an introvert, but the comment about distrusting common sense also suggests a preference for intuition over sensing. The dominating philosophical theory in the social environment surrounding him at the time was positivism, and he was completely against it, albeit kept this concealed. Positivists believe that “information derived from sensory experience, interpreted through reason and logic, forms the exclusive source of all certain knowledge.” One can see how positivism would be an anti-intuitive ideology.

From a young age, Gödel was very inquisitive, earning him the nickname “Mr. Why”. He was also paranoid from a young age. He suffered from mild anxiety neurosis at age 5, and then at age 8 suffered from joint rheumatism with high fever. After recovering, he researched out the disease and learned that it can cause permanent heart damage. He was convinced from that point on that he had an injured heart. He originally intended to study physics, but then found himself more fascinated with the field of mathematics, which is far more abstract.

Gödel believed that in principle it was possible to completely predict someone’s actions. In response to the counter that someone with the knowledge of that could potentially change their actions, Gödel responded that not only can one not act counter to their own wishes, but if such a person were to exist, it would be logically impossible for them to learn of the theory in order to counter it. The Ni influence here is obvious, but there’s some Ti mixed in there as well.

Gödel preferred to do most of his discussions or debating, essentially, via writing. When he did speak, it was with precision, but he tended to remain quiet (for Fe reasons), and limited much of his discourse to the written word. This would fall well in line with a dominant Ni user, who may not feel as confident in his speech.

Lastly, although this is more an amusing observation of mine. Do you remember the analogy about the box? Se sees the box. Si saw the box. Ne thinks outside the box… etc. and then Ni says there is no box? While Einstein was postulating that time was relative, Gödel countered that time as we understand it does not exist at all.

Fe:

“Learn to act correctly: everybody has shortcomings, believes in something wrong, and lives to carry out his mistakes.” – Kurt Gödel

“With a proof in hand, he would not have to involve himself in the sorts of combative human conversations he regarded with distaste, maybe even with horror. There was never a man, I’ll wager, who combined so much conviction with so little inclination to argue his convictions by the normal means given to us, viz. human speech.” – Rebecca Goldstein

“And Gödel, impassioned Platonist that he was, sat among the positivists and spoke not a word of dissent.” – Rebecca Goldstein

Gödel was extremely conflict avoidant. While he did certain things that were blatant against social norm, like the wife he chose, in his daily life Gödel hated conflict of any kind, which essentially halted his career, in a sense. Gödel hated face-to-face conversation that was in anyway disharmonious, so he limited any debating or counter arguments to writing. Although, he had a large volume of letters that ultimately never got sent off. He also had a large amount of ideas that were never published. It’s believed that this was due to his overly cautious nature fearing the external ramifications. He feared that his ideas would be met with skepticism or hostility. As a result, he kept many of his thoughts to himself. He is described as being a man full of conviction but with little inclination to argue it, a man of deep passions which he kept carefully hidden.

After having written the theorem for which he so well known, Gödel essentially suffered a very typical aux Fe problem: he was initially completely overlooked. He waited until the final day of a three day conference to share his discovery, and then shared a precise, single sentence summary of his conclusion at the latter end of the day. The ramifications of his discovery were completely missed, and everyone moved right on from it as if he had never said a thing. Of course, Gödel made no attempts to put his discovery back in the limelight right then and there, and it wasn’t until later that people started realizing the implications of his theorem.

Later in life, when working for the university, he feared he wasn’t living up to expectations. He had a tendency to highly underestimate his own reputation within the mathematical community. It had been suggested that he may have been able to influence the ideology of the time if he hadn’t been so averse to conflict. When approached about publishing some of his work in a book, Gödel changed his mind on the editors several times, fearing that they would attack his work in the publication.

Ti:

“Some thinkers have seen in Gödel’s theorems high-grade grist for the postmodern mill, pulverizing the old absolutist ways of thinking about truth and certainty, objectivity and rationality.” – Rebecca Goldstein

Gödel’s incompleteness theorems demonstrate his Ti quite well. His first theorem essentially claimed that some mathematical truths could never be proved true, which is very anti-Te. (Note the quote above). The second theorem showed that certain systems could only be proved consistent by other systems, and not within the system itself. This seems simultaneously Ti and anti-Ti, suggesting that the system itself cannot be proved consistent within itself, yet using logical consistency to other systems to prove truth. This seems to make sense with a lower Ti user. Although, to clarify, I’m not saying that other types couldn’t have discovered this. I’m simply noting that what we tend to pursue or subconsciously hone in on can indicate which cognitive functions we are using. Gödel’s discoveries specifically seem consistent with someone who has Ti in their stack.

Of course, Gödel’s general lack of Te can be demonstrated in the fact that he seemed to never assert himself, and thus had the issue with getting overlooked (which is fairly typical for the tertiary Ti users.) He also had no interest in power or status, and while having almost celebrity-like status, he never achieved any real career success.

Se:

Gödel’s inferior Se seems to be displayed is his oddly eccentric diet. According to one article we read, “Gödel subsisted on a valetudinarian’s diet of butter, baby food, and laxatives.” This suggests generally not being in tune with his internal sensory world. (IE: No Si to speak of), and in a sense, not trusting physical sustenance. (I’m not sure I mentioned that in the article,  but Alexander Grothendieck actually had a similarly eccentric diet, although not quite as restrictive I believe. Now, after having read about Gödel, I’m beginning to see a potential pattern.)

He also struggled with extreme paranoia when he was older. Although, he had some of these anxious or paranoid tendencies as a child, being a hypochondriac in his adolescent years. However, later in life, he believed that people were trying to kill him, his wife had given away all of his money, his doctors were conspiring against him, and etc. He eventually died of starvation because he refused to eat anything his wife didn’t cook. His death certificate list “malnutrition and inanition” brought on by “personality disturbance” as the cause of death. This as a whole suggested a detachment from the sensory world.

External Sources

• Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel
• Time Bandits: What were Einstein and Gödel talking about?
• 50 Years Later, The Questions Remain
• Kurt Gödel: Life, Work, and Legacy
• Gödel quotations