Personality Zone

The Evolution of Temperament

One thing that I enjoy about temperament analysis is its application to historic figures. Understanding how the Guardian George Washington had to interact with a mainly Rational Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War definitely lends a different perceptive to how Washington was ultimately fighting on several fronts. Similar analyses of the past shed light on the human experience as well.

However, I have to wonder if temperaments today are actually different than in the past. I’m speculating that they are not too different as human nature is a relative constant, but given the evolution of society and technology, there certainly would be some reworking of definitions as the temperaments pass through time.

On a superficial level, we can look at a Rational and wonder what one might have done before computers were invented. Of course Rationals had outlets outside of computers such as sciences and philosophy. We can thus apply temperaments back a few thousand years with the broader definition. But what about before then? Even still, this is merely a function of the available knowledge of the times.

What I ponder is the evolution of concepts. For example, numbers are inherently an abstract concept. If I were to draw a number 2, I would argue that is not a “two”, but only a representation of an abstract concept of “two”. True, this is pretty simple given that two has always has a concrete application. However, larger numbers are not so straight-forward. Modern man might not have difficulty understanding the number two thousand eight, but to a shepherd that never saw more than a hundred sheep at one time, that number would likely be a mysterious concept.

It’s not just evolution of abstract and concrete. While I have no specific examples, surely the process of change in going from a society that may never know of the world outside of their own village to an emerging global society would alter what cooperative and utilitarian means. New physical tools, evolving traditions, and changes in thought on human nature itself (such as the demise of slavery in most of the world) have to have some impact on that differentiation.

I think that perhaps temperament is relatively constant. For example, if we were able to look at figures in pre-Columbian America, we’d likely see temperaments very much in the same way as contemporary Europe, Asia, and Africa, despite the dearth of communication between New World and Old. Yet how these temperaments appear in different societies would be based on the nature of that society. Today’s scientists might have been yesterday’s alchemists and astrologists. Today’s sports star might have been yesterday’s mythological hero.

I suppose the major interest that we might have from this is how temperament might evolve in the future. We might be seeing this now as Artisans use computers for artistic endeavors and Idealists focus on a global community. Perhaps in a few hundred years calculus might be too concrete for Rationals to give it much thought. Whatever the future holds, I suspect that the four temperaments will adapt along with it. It should be interesting.