Rights as Relational Responsibilities

Sor Juana's intellectual struggle was not merely about claiming individual rights in isolation; it was about establishing what intellectual life required and what community owed to those pursuing knowledge. This reframing is crucial for restorative approaches to harm: instead of punishing violations of rights, this framework asks what relational responsibilities were broken and how they can be restored. When someone causes harm, they have damaged their capacity to participate in relationships of trust and mutual respect. Restoration requires rebuilding those relational capacities through accountability, changed behavior, and recommitment to responsibilities. Similarly, those harmed need restoration of confidence in the relational world's responsiveness to their rights. This is deeper than rights enforcement; it is rights cultivation—creating conditions where each person's dignity and agency are not merely protected but actively supported. Sor Juana's tradition insists that individual thriving and collective justice cannot be separated.