Hayek deliberately designed the society as closed and conviction-bound, neither scholarly nor political.

Evidence

The organisation which seems to be needed is something halfway between a scholarly association and a po liti cal society,” he said. “It would differ from a purely scientifi c group in that its members would be held together by a basic agreement on the aims for which they are seeking the means. And it would differ from any po liti cal organisation in that it would not be concerned with short run policies, or even with the peculiar problems of par tic u lar countries, but with the general principles of a liberal order.” He described it as “a kind of International Academy of Po liti cal Philosophy,” or more specifi cally as “a closed society, whose members would be bound together by common convictions and try both to develop this common philosophy and to spread its understanding.” — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 242

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precise conceptual boundary of the Mont Pèlerin Society — halfway institution, closed by common convictions — essential for understanding what kind of intervention it was.
• XREF: connects to: Hayek founded a closed society to repair classical liberalism’s conceptual flaws — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 120; Hayek designed the Mont Pèlerin Society as a closed ideological academy — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 193

Broader Connections

• Hayek designed the Mont Pèlerin Society as a closed ideological academy #expands (0.90) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 193
• Hayek founded a closed society to repair classical liberalism’s conceptual flaws #qualifies (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 120