The Right to Knowing: Epistemic Justice

Sor Juana claimed the 'right to knowing' despite her gender, religious order, and colonial status—asserting epistemic justice in a system designed to silence her. This concept protects secular and atheist communities from being excluded from legitimate knowledge production. Epistemic justice means recognizing that marginalized perspectives bring valid insights, that secular frameworks offer genuine understanding, and that religious institutions have no monopoly on truth. For atheist identity, this principle reclaims authority over meaning-making: you need not defer to clergy or sacred texts for answers about existence, morality, or purpose. It validates secular scholarship, scientific inquiry, and non-religious philosophy as equally legitimate sources of wisdom. It protects against testimonial injustice—the dismissal of secular speakers—and hermeneutical injustice, where secular frameworks are erased from public discourse.