Language, Naming, and Accountability

As a poet and philosopher, Sor Juana understood language as a tool of truth-making. Corruption often operates through euphemism and obfuscation—calling theft 'optimization,' discrimination 'meritocracy,' bribery 'consulting fees.' Anticorruption work rooted in this sophos tradition emphasizes the power of precise naming. When we call things by their true names—corruption, not 'business as usual,' fraud not 'creative accounting'—we make them visible and harder to defend. This applies to institutional practices: naming patterns of exclusion as discrimination, documenting systemic theft, identifying conflicts of interest explicitly. Language precision also serves accountability; vague policies enable interpretation that conceals corruption, while detailed, clearly-written standards make violations obvious. Sor Juana's careful argumentation created logical clarity that made evasion harder. Similarly, anticorruption frameworks should prioritize clarity of language, explicit standards, and the courage to name harmful realities as what they are. This doesn't require aggression but rather the intellectual honesty Sor Juana modeled: seeing things as they are and saying so, trusting truth's power over protective silence.