The Original Position Across Generations

Rawls's original position is a thought experiment: imagine designing society without knowing your place in it. Sor Juana's tradition extends this across generations. Each cohort inherits institutions—educational, religious, legal—built on the assumptions and biases of predecessors. Justice requires that each generation deliberately re-enter the original position and ask: would we design these rules again, behind the veil of ignorance? Would we retain restrictions on who can study, teach, or speak if we didn't know whether we'd be the restricted or the restrictor? Sor Juana did this work intellectually: she interrogated the inherited rules of her convent and Church, refused to accept them as natural, and imagined alternatives. Her example shows that institutional justice is never final; it requires ongoing critical examination. Modern practitioners must resist treating systems as settled. Every law, educational policy, and cultural norm should be subject to the question: would we accept this if we didn't know our position? Sor Juana models the intellectual courage required to challenge even sacred traditions in light of fairness principles.