Epistemic Justice and the Right to Know

Sor Juana was systematically denied formal education because of her gender and lower status, yet she educated herself through voracious reading and correspondence. This experience illuminates epistemic justice—the right to be recognized as a knower and to access knowledge without arbitrary barriers. For secular identities, this concept challenges both religious gatekeeping (institutions controlling what can be known) and secular complacency (assuming information is freely available). Epistemic injustice occurs when atheists are treated as incapable of moral reasoning, when secular perspectives are excluded from curricula, or when religious frameworks monopolize explanations of meaning. Sor Juana's life demonstrates that self-education, intellectual community, and persistent questioning are acts of justice. This framework invites secular practitioners to both claim their right to know and to actively distribute knowledge, creating libraries, mentoring relationships, and intellectual spaces where diverse perspectives, including secular and atheist views, are genuinely accessible.