ABSTRACT
This chapter asks: how to change a canon? It assumes that the early modern philosophical canon needs to be changed, but it tries not to assume any outcomes, for instance whether particular figures should be added. This ‘how’ question has two senses. The first is a very real practical how-to question about what needs to be undertaken in order to do things differently. The second is a normative historiographical question about methods in the history of philosophy and in particular about ensuring the assumptions intrinsic in writing the history of philosophy are not hidden from view. While its focus is squarely on the history of early modern philosophy, the hope is that the discussion will be helpful to (re-)writing the history of philosophy in general.
