Paul Cooijmans — INTP: "The abstract-minded system architect"
Paul Cooijmans' primary mode of cognition is focused internally, on logical understanding, and he is exceedingly good organizing his understanding of the world at large and different concepts into structured, precise thought. His writings suggest a mind that has spent a great amount of time and effort pondering complex questions and reaching an intricate and exhaustive understanding of whatever topic he brings up. He also views it as his personal responsibility to solve theoretical problems and push society toward a higher understanding.
Like most people with an Introverted Thinking dominant function, Paul Cooijmans is drawn to exploring impartial systems and has a tendency to abstract himself from the "human dimension". He also typically views interpersonal exchanges and relationships through a thick lens of logic and reason. His reasoning is principled and rational, and his mind is driven toward understanding and structuring systems — be it economical, political, social or behavioral — and discovering the abstract principles that govern these systems, rather than finding practical implementation for them, which is more in the realm of Extraverted Thinking (Te).
As a strong introvert, Paul Cooijmans places little value in external metrics or standards, or even the objects themselves, instead displaying a preference to abstract away from the object and discover what part it has in a system. He had admittedly not much faith in hierarchal power structures or traditional forms of authority, much preferring to work alone or alongside others as equals and without competition. Not one to force his values or way of life on others, Paul Cooijmans expects the same courtesy from others and lives by his own personal and inwardly-deduced mode of organization. He holds the opinion that instinct and reason are two fundamental opposites waging a constant war inside the human psyche and only highly intelligent people are capable of suppressing their primitive instincts through reason.
Constantly curious and eager to learn more, Paul Cooijmans easily generates ideas of his own and spots potential in other people's ideas. He has deeply original and ingenious thought patterns that allow him to analyze common problems from unique perspectives and argue multiple sides of a debate. Paul Cooijmans does not restrict himself to one or even a handful areas of interest or expertise but has a wide array of both, some of which may appear eclectic or even idiosyncratic to an outside spectator.
Paul Cooijmans does not hesitate to mentally explore and theorize in areas that humanity on a whole has very little knowledge of, such as the existence of extraterrestrial life and the future evolvement of humanity as a species. Being a dominant thinking type, Paul Cooijmans uses Ne mainly in service of Ti, with focus on hatching new ideas for careful categorization, systemization, and analysis. Paul Cooijmans believes in "qualified uncertainty", that human intuition is derived from objects in the external world, and that human perception undeniably places a limit on what can be discovered and learned by humans. He has a distinct fondness for thought experiments and hatching idea-based solutions for social problems.
Paul Cooijmans leads a highly structured and regimented lifestyle by his own choice. He is highly receptive to the internal impressions which personal experiences — particularly negative ones in his childhood and adolescence — have left upon his psyche. Once a principle or pattern has become deeply cemented in his mind, he is not likely to deviate from it or react favorably to a proposed re-categorization, for better or for worse.
He has a visible need to present himself as competent in dealing with his surroundings and his health, which include precise management of diet, training and exercise. Paul Cooijmans has a very good memory and finds it easy to memorize and retain facts, both independently and as components of a system. Paul Cooijmans also places much importance on physical and psychological well-being, which, for him, is best achieved by being surrounded by pleasant stimuli and sticking to established routines.
This is Paul Cooijmans' weakest function and appears as considerably repressed in his cognition. He takes a very Ti-centric approach to both interpersonal dynamics and morality at the cost of empathy and fellow-feeling, and he has little understanding for people who do not operate within the rational boundaries of morality. With an inferior extraverted judging function (Fe), Paul Cooijmans admittedly struggles to win people over to his way of thinking and getting them to listen to him, which is possibly due to his lacking outward emotional energy; a trait common amongst inferior Fe users.