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Fi (Introverted Ethics): Semantic Field

Fi (Introverted Ethics) describes a person's feelings toward an object, together with the qualities of the object that leave an impression on them.

Primary areas of interest

The recurring distinction is between:

Feelings and subjective attitudes

Describing one's feelings and attitudes toward something or someone

This includes vocabulary related to personal emotional reactions, preferences, attachments, aversions, and attitudes.

Expressions of personal feelings and attitudes

Examples

EII: “When I fall in love, feelings are the most important thing to me. I don't think about what he does for a living, how much he earns, what family he comes from, and so on.”

ESI: “Warm feelings only arise in my soul if a person is reliable. If they are unreliable, I feel no emotional connection whatsoever.”

ESI: “I would fall in love if someone showed a genuinely warm, loving attitude toward me. I could feel it when it was sincere. If someone tried to suck up to me, I sensed it instantly, and I lost all interest.”

Qualities and emotional states

Circumstantial expressions: cause, purpose, and intention

These indicate the reason, objective, or intention for an action:

Assessing motives behind actions

Examples:

EII: “When I grew up, I tracked down my dad, established a connection with him, and told my mom, ‘Mom, no matter what kind of father he was, he is still my father, and I must make peace with him. You need to forgive him; he had his own reasons for acting the way he did.’”

EII: “If a person is close and dear to me, and they do something that could be condemned, I will say: ‘How could she!’ But then I start making excuses for that person. If I am very comfortable with someone and am afraid of losing them, I justify them.”

Qualifiers of actions and behavior

These describe how an action or behavior is performed or perceived:

Note

Whenever there is a choice between different parts of speech—for example, a verb or an adverb of state — preference is given to the adverb (Fi is static).

Feelings and emotional states

Related states and expressions:

Example

EII: “The feeling of being in love: a sense of delight, euphoria, lightness, inspiration, peace, and uplift. [...] Fear: a wave of heat moving through the body from top to bottom (mostly fear for loved ones). The feeling of shame: realizing I didn’t act the right way, wondering how it looked from the outside, said something wrong — I blame myself.”

Affecting and impacting feelings

This section describes what one person or thing does to another person's emotional state.

Vocabulary

Examples

EII: “It is very important to me how a close person looks at me. From their look I can determine what is happening to them: whether they are worried about something, upset, or simply tired from work. If I don't understand what is wrong with someone, I start asking questions: ‘What happened?’ I need to understand what is going on in the person's soul, and whether I can help somehow. I sit down and talk with them. [...] When they have talked it out, I look and see: they have warmed up, their body has become freer, more relaxed. Aha, my task is completed. My goal is to return the person to a good mood.”

ESI: “You couldn't yell at me. I always used to tell my mom, ‘Speak to me in a sweet little voice!’ I couldn't stand an authoritarian tone. You had to be gentle with me—if you just asked nicely, I would do anything. [...] I was drawn to people who spoke with a gentle voice. For example, if a mother was walking with a toddler and speaking to them in a sweet tone, I would be drawn to them.”

Relationships between people

Relationships as a constant factor

Fi also frames relationships as an ongoing system of interpersonal connections: close friend, neighbor, relative, spouse, child, acquaintance, etc. The loss of a relationship can be described as a deeply painful internal experience.

Example

ESI: “The example of relationships in my family—how my mom and dad treated each other—was very important to me. The way you see that is how relationships will form in your own family. [...] I tried to bring them together somehow: ‘Dad, let's go buy Mom a present.’ How I suffered, it was awful. I would ask him, ‘Dad, why do you talk so cheerfully with strange women, but you don't talk to Mom that way?’”

Psychological distance

Positions on the distance scale

Changes in distance

Examples

EII: “If I get hurt, I switch to purely formal communication… I simply build a wall between myself and the other person, removing all warmth. If I see that they understand and are willing to meet me halfway, then I will meet them halfway too.”

ESI: “I can immediately see who is a friend and who is an outsider. [...] People were drawn to me, while I was selective about who I found interesting. [...] I made friends who were three or four years older because listening to childish nonsense irritated me.”

ESI: “I am constantly choosing people, never letting them get too close. If I feel that there used to be comfort, but now there isn't—I push them away.”

Ties, bonds, and connections

Vocabulary

Types of bonds

Metaphor

“A healthy attachment is like a safety rope in danger — it hangs loose, but pulls tight when necessary.”

Anything can be a bond: from a thin thread to an iron chain.

Examples

EII: “Since childhood, it has always been important for me to have friends. Wherever I found myself, in any group, it was important for me to find a girlfriend. [...] I have several best friends whom I trust, but I communicate with many people.”

EII: “I am a very loyal person and cannot begin a new relationship if I am still in one. There is a clear inner prohibition. If my partner starts hurting me, my love for him gradually fades, and once it’s gone, I also leave.”

ESI: “If a child like this has found a real connection in a relationship and loves someone—and what they need in a relationship is a warm look and a soft tone of voice—they will perform their absolute least favorite task for that person.”

ESI: “If someone helps me, I sincerely want to do something in return... If someone doesn't help me, I boil inside: ‘I helped you. Why won't you help me?’ ... I push them away.”

Evaluation

Evaluation of an object

General evaluation

Evaluative insults, labels, and expressions

Enduring qualities / character traits

Cognates from “soul” and “heart”

Examples

EII: [When I was in love] I was full of tenderness and emotion. And what’s interesting is that although my feelings were very strong—this desire to care, protect, nurture—I always noticed the flaws in that person (everyone has them). I felt two things at once—one could say a split in personality: on one hand, love; on the other, judgments of his qualities, actions, and so on. Although all the negative was as if in a fog—I didn’t want to see it, or believe it. I tried to find excuses, but if the negative outweighed everything else, it became terribly painful. “How can this be? Something must be done!” I invented many different ways to get rid of everything bad.

EII: “This feeling [of elevated, tender infatuation] was often accompanied by admiration, a desire for self-sacrifice, a tendency to attribute ideal qualities to people. Often I simply invented them and didn’t see what was actually there.”

ESI: “I see flaws in people. I take the good for granted; it doesn’t move me. But I see the bad in everything: in actions, in appearance. I would have done it differently, acted differently, dressed differently. I want to improve everyone in every way: in daily life, in clothes, in discipline. If only I could dress them a bit better...”

Evaluation of human behavior

Manner and character of behavior

Examples

ESI: “I want to transform people. If someone behaves badly, I get nervous, I get indignant, I feel ashamed for them—I suffer, and I try to tactfully make them realize what is happening. If it doesn't work, and I see it’s useless, I apologize and step aside.”

ESI: “What worries me most is when people behave in ways I consider wrong. When I ride the commuter train, I look around: this one is unpleasant, that one is bad, and this one over here is altogether suspicious—you can expect trouble from him, maybe he’ll dig into someone's bag or behave inappropriately in some other way. People spitting sunflower seed shells—I feel like making a remark, but I don't dare to, and it aches my soul. They should know how to behave properly themselves, and they should teach their children the same.”

Diminutive, augmentative, and derogatory forms

Excessive use of diminutive, augmentative, and derogatory suffixes:

What is not confirmed by the study

Broad abstract concepts

The following were categorized as overly abstract because their scope is broader than the information element itself:

Important qualification: “Morality” and “ethics” as broad, universal concepts do not belong to this information element; however, as evaluations of behavior or character, they fall within it. The same principle applies to the other words in this semantic family: one can speak of an immoral act or a conscienceless person, using these terms as individualized, subjective evaluations.

Here, a parallel can be drawn with social boundaries in Introverted Logic (Ti): by rejecting these overarching terms, Fi rejects the idea of a universal law applicable to all—in this context, a single, rigid morality for all eras and situations. Yet, as individualized, subjective evaluations, these concepts are fully valid within the information element.

Consequently, conventional depictions of types such as ESI and, to some extent, EII as “guardians of a universal collective morality” appear fundamentally flawed. They do not guard universal laws—they simply feel, assess, and articulate their personal evaluations.

Sources:

See also:

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