"Historically, human rationality is a development of economic life.
Could it then obtain when divorced therefrom?"
This is a quote from Mises’ Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth which I think is very telling on more than one level. I would like to include it at the beginning of a paper I’m writing. However, since English is not my mother tongue, im not too sure about the second sentence of the quote. Mises essentially links a rational economy with the rationality of human beings and asks (rhetorically) whether human rationality can be maintained if the economy is not rational. Is the second sentence verbally wrong or just old fashioned/elegant?
It also seems to open up for some mixed interpretations.
- In the first sentence, it seems as if rationality is something that has been developed from the past. Thus, this seems to indicate that the word in the second sentence should be “maintained” rather than “obtain”.
2.BUT, if Mises rather means to say that rationality is something that must be obtained every day, this makes more sense, however i think this is more at odds with the first sentence.
Does anyone have an opinion regarding whether this is a quote is verbally correct?
The quote is from p15.