Picard v. Pulaski
I’ve been watching a lot of Star Trek TNG on TV, and I’ve seen a lot of second season episodes over the last couple of weeks. Dr. Pulaski is an excellent character. Diana Muldair is a better actress than Gates McFadden, but also the character is richer and more well-rounded. She is a real foil for Jean-Luc Picard, perhaps the only real one he ever has. Commander Riker loves Picard too much, and they have complementary personalities not opposing ones. Picard is an ENTJ or an INTJ, and Pulaski is an ISFP. You can think about their shadows too and why they hate each other. Pulaski’s shadow is extroverted thinking. When she does her job she does it quite well, but she has a tendency to get bossy and to question Picard’s judgments. Picard on the other hand keeps his feeling side very much to himself, and he is very sensitive about the basis for Pulaski’s judgments. She doesn’t come across as overly warm — but if you get to know her or spend time with her or look in her eyes she’s quite charming — but ultimately everything she says or does is based on strongly held values.
Is Picard ENTJ or INTJ? The question is, is he most out of touch with personal values, or with the external physical world? I would say personal values and feelings. He has a limited emotional life… Wait, he might be more INTJ. No, he’s ENTJ. When he was younger he was more aggressive and power hungry, and this got tempered as he developed his intuition. But he still has trouble with his own emotions. Or rather, they’re not apparent.
Hmmm. Back to the world.
Wait, back to Picard. I’m pretty sure that not only is he ENTJ, he’s quite a well-developed one, to the point that he has even come to terms with his own shadow, and that’s why he loves to read and why he loves philosophy. And ultimately he’s driven by that, everything he does is towards finding moral sense about the universe.