Sommer Robert
University of California, CA, USA.
J Hist Behav Sci. 2007 Summer;43(3):305-13. doi: 10.1002/jhbs.20241.
Both of Thorstein Veblen's wives and another woman he loved had nervous breakdowns, while a fourth woman to whom he was emotionally very close committed suicide. Yet when Veblen published an article entitled "Dementia praecox," he did not mention his personal contact with serious mental disorder. This detachment is consistent with Veblen's approach to writing. Veblen considered himself to be a detached observer who wrote objectively about society rather than subjectively about himself.
托斯丹·凡勃伦的两任妻子以及他所爱的另一名女子都精神崩溃了,而与他情感上非常亲近的第四名女子自杀了。然而,当凡勃伦发表一篇题为《早发性痴呆》的文章时,他并未提及自己与严重精神障碍的亲身接触。这种超脱与凡勃伦的写作方式是一致的。凡勃伦认为自己是一个超脱的观察者,他客观地撰写关于社会的文章,而非主观地描述自己。