In the spring and early summer of 1790, a new and formidable political association appeared in Paris dedicated to the consolidation of the Revolutionary gains of the previous year and to the development, propagation and implementation of Enlightened social and political ideals. The Societe de 1789 was founded by the marquis de Condorcet and abbe Sieyes in April 1790, and quickly attracted a lar...

In 1949, Hayek attributed the dominant position of planning in the West to the role of intellectuals, by which he meant ‘professional second-hand dealers in ideas’ such as journalists and commentators. Later in the twentieth century, we saw a similar phenomenon: particular social ideas, although frequently falsified empirically, have come to dominate through the efforts of intellectuals. This p...