The life cycle outlined in the Introduction is not equally applicable to all legal theories. Rather, the deeper threats lie in the second- and third-order social, political, and ideological effects that the adulterated theory’s persistence may foster down the line. The most significant threats posed by a new legal theory do not come from its neglect of significant first-order values-the usual focus of criticism-for those values are apt to be incorporated into the theory. And we argue that an appreciation of the life cycle counsels a reorientation of legal advocacy and critique. We illustrate this life cycle through case studies of originalism, textualism, popular constitutionalism, and cost-benefit analysis, as well as a comparison with leading accounts of organizational and theoretical change in politics and science. We develop a stylized model to explain the life cycle of certain particularly influential legal theories. This Article identifies and diagnoses this evolutionary phenomenon. As they develop into schools of thought, they become not only increasingly complicated but also increasingly compromised, by their own normative lights. Prescriptive legal theories have a tendency to cannibalize themselves.
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