ABOUT CCEC

The Center for Canon Expansion and Change (CCEC) was founded in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 2021 by Dwight K. Lewis, Jr., Jessica Gordon-Roth, and Bennett McNulty with the goal of effecting meaningful change in the way that philosophy is done, understood, organized, and – especially – taught.

In particular, CCEC focuses on supporting instructors who want to teach neglected figures or a new canon of early modern philosophy, but otherwise lack the resources to do so. CCEC aims to teach instructors how to create a safe and vibrant learning environment that speaks to a multitude of perspectives and allows students to learn about philosophers with voices like their own.

The idea behind this is that we tend to teach as we have been taught, and this is the way (at least in part) the canon is maintained or upheld. This also means that this is where we can best effect change: if instructors are taught to think of the canon in a more broad and inclusive way, their students will too.

Moreover, it’s only through changing the canon and understanding the way in which our respective positionalities affect learning in the classroom that we can be in a better position to change the face of philosophy--which is of the utmost importance, since the field remains alarmingly homogenous.