The Right to Not Know: Intellectual Humility

Sor Juana's work often took the form of questions rather than declarations, a rhetorical choice that positioned her as a seeker of knowledge rather than a possessor of it. This approach allowed her to engage with complex philosophical and theological questions while maintaining epistemic humility. The concept of intellectual humility becomes particularly important for examining cisgender identity because assigned gender often demands false certainty—women assigned feminine are expected to defer to masculine authority, while those assigned masculine are expected to project confidence. Sor Juana's embrace of questioning as a legitimate intellectual stance offered an alternative. For those examining cisgender identity, this framework suggests that the right to not know, to ask, to remain uncertain, represents a kind of freedom from gendered performance. By positioning intellectual work as ongoing inquiry rather than the demonstration of accumulated authority, Sor Juana modeled how cisgender individuals might escape the trap of performative competence and engage in genuine intellectual exploration without the burden of false certainty.