The Right to Autonomous Existence

Central to Sor Juana's legacy is her assertion of women's right to self-determination—to pursue knowledge, creativity, and life paths of their own choosing against institutional control. This principle extends powerfully to animals. Moral consideration requires acknowledging that animals have purposes and preferences beyond human utility. A bird has an interest in building nests; a whale in singing its songs; a deer in roaming territories. Current animal agriculture, experimentation, and entertainment systematically deny these autonomous pursuits, reducing sentient beings to instruments. Sor Juana fought against being treated as a means to others' ends; animal ethics demands the same. The right to autonomous existence means protecting habitat, allowing natural behaviors, and ending systems that instrumentalize animal bodies and time. This isn't sentimentality but fundamental justice: recognizing that other beings have their own lives to live, their own goods to pursue. Sor Juana's intellectual rebellion becomes a template for liberation movements extending beyond humanity.