Epistemic Justice and the Right to Know

Sor Juana was denied formal education, had her writings suppressed, and was forced to sell her library—all attempts to control what she could know and express. Contemporary secular identity includes the affirmation of epistemic justice: the right of all people to know, to question, to interpret reality according to their own reason rather than received authority. This directly challenges religious gatekeeping—the claim that only the ordained, the chosen, or the divinely inspired can truly understand reality. A secular atheist asserts that knowledge is not a gift from God but a human birthright, accessible through reason, evidence, and inquiry available to all. This concept goes beyond mere skepticism; it's an active commitment to democratizing knowledge, supporting critical literacy, and resisting any system that tells people what they are permitted to understand. Sor Juana's life exemplifies the refusal to accept prescribed intellectual limits.