Redefining Progress Beyond Domination

Sor Juana lived during the colonial expansion that defined progress as European conquest and control. Yet her writings suggest alternative visions—progress as intellectual and spiritual development, as virtue, as deepening understanding. Applied to animals, this concept critiques the assumption that human advancement requires animal exploitation and environmental domination. Industrial agriculture, animal experimentation, and species extinction are presented as inevitable costs of progress. But genuine progress might look different: developing plant-based technologies, advancing medicine without animal testing, creating economies that honor ecosystems. Sor Juana's intellectual legacy supports this vision. She valued knowledge that came from careful observation and respect, not domination. She resisted the notion that any group's advancement justified another's subjugation. Redefining progress means measuring human flourishing by different metrics: moral development, relational integrity, ecological health. It means recognizing that our advancement at animals' expense is not progress but moral regression. True advancement would involve creating civilizations that support flourishing across species, where human ingenuity solves problems without devastating other forms of life.