Justice as Recognition and Transformation

Sor Juana pursued justice through two interconnected paths: demanding recognition of women's equal intellectual worth while simultaneously working to transform institutions that denied it. Animal justice requires this dual approach. Recognition means acknowledging that animals have interests, capacities, and worth independent of human use—not merely as resources or property but as beings with inherent value. Transformation means changing practices: reforming agriculture, ending entertainment exploitation, protecting habitats, creating legal frameworks that respect animal interests. Neither alone suffices. Recognition without transformation becomes mere sentiment; transformation without recognition becomes welfare improvement within exploitative systems. Sor Juana's legacy teaches that real justice requires both intellectual and institutional work, that changing hearts and changing laws reinforce each other. For animals, this means education about their nature and capacities coupled with advocacy for policy change, personal practice shifts coupled with institutional reform, community organizing coupled with philosophical argument. Justice emerges through sustained, multifaceted commitment to seeing animals clearly and building systems that honor what we see.