Epistemic Justice and Credibility Struggles

Sor Juana confronted epistemic injustice when her theological and scientific contributions were dismissed because of her gender and religious status. She fought for recognition as a legitimate knower, not merely a vessel for others' ideas. Secular atheists face parallel struggles: their moral reasoning is often delegitimized as 'merely materialist' or 'lacking soul,' their knowledge-claims about meaning-making dismissed as incomplete. Sor Juana's strategy—meticulous argumentation, unapologetic scholarship, public defense of her intellectual standing—offers a framework for secular communities asserting epistemic justice. This concept insists that atheist voices deserve credibility in conversations about meaning, ethics, identity, and the good life, countering the assumption that secular perspectives are inherently less profound or trustworthy than religious ones.