Periodically, over the space of a few generations, societies have to revalidate the foundations bequeathed by tradition, and they do not do so until they go through the very same crises that led to the need for their establishment. The objective, to pacify understandings and avoid new crises, is achieved only until those who have kept it in their memory die, or not at all. History, in this respect, only demonstrates its failure to a few intellectuals.