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Thorstein Veblen and Dementia praecox
Author(s) -
Sommer Robert
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/jhbs.20241
Subject(s) - veblen good , dementia praecox , psychoanalysis , psychology , sociology , philosophy , epistemology , neoclassical economics , psychiatry , economics , schizophrenia (object oriented programming)
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. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.