The final chapter of Tradition by Edwards Shils (1981) is 'The Permanent Task', it begins as follows:
There is no permanent solution to any important problem in human life. Only transient and minor problems have solutions; they too often do not have them, but they pass and are replaced by other problems, or the solutions which are given to them generate new problems. The important problems are important because they touch on the lives of many persons in serious ways, they weigh on important institutions and on highly valued things.
