The Duty to Question Authority

Sor Juana challenged religious and patriarchal authority through her intellectual work, asserting that critical examination of power is a moral necessity. In the context of harm and justice, this means restorative approaches must question why certain groups are repeatedly punished while others escape accountability. Punitive systems often protect institutional authority by framing justice as obedience to existing hierarchies. Sor Juana's tradition insists that true justice requires courage to ask uncomfortable questions: Whom does punishment serve? Whose harm is invisible? Who decides what counts as crime? Restorative practices rooted in this duty create space for marginalized people to expose systemic injustice. They reject the assumption that authorities are neutral arbiters and instead make accountability reciprocal—institutions must answer for their own harm as much as individuals must answer for theirs.