Epistemic Humility Within Authority

Sor Juana's intellectual work combined confident assertion of knowledge with genuine curiosity, a humility about what remained unknown. This concept addresses how professionals can exercise authority without arrogance. Expertise carries power; it permits professionals to make decisions, guide others, and claim resources. This power can corrupt, leading to dismissal of contrary evidence, unwillingness to learn, and domination of others. Epistemic humility means knowing the difference between legitimate authority based on expertise and illegitimate authority that extends beyond one's actual knowledge. It means staying curious, remaining open to being wrong, and recognizing the limits of one's domain. For professionals from marginalized backgrounds, this is complicated: they may need to assert authority confidently to overcome bias, yet maintaining genuine humility prevents replicating the very hierarchies that harmed them. The balance involves confident expertise paired with intellectual openness, authoritative voice paired with listening, and clarity about what you know versus what remains unknown or contested.