Knowledge as Acts of Justice

Sor Juana's insistence on her right to study mathematics, theology, and philosophy was never purely personal—it was a political claim about women's dignity, intellectual equality, and access to power. She recognized that knowledge is always situated within systems of power and justice. The concept of knowledge-as-justice challenges the bad faith excuse that "I'm just being objective" or "I don't deal with politics." Every choice about what to study, whom to believe, which questions to ask, involves implicit positions on whose voice matters and whose truth counts. Authenticity demands acknowledging this political dimension. When Sor Juana defended her intellectual pursuits, she was defending epistemological justice—the right to be heard, to contribute to truth-making, to be recognized as a knower. In modern contexts, this framework applies to academic research, journalism, pedagogy, and expertise. Authentic intellectual work requires examining: Whose interests does this knowledge serve? Who is excluded from this conversation? What power structures does my choice to study this reinforce or challenge? Bad faith in intellectual life means pretending these questions don't exist.