Epistemological Criminals: 17th Century Poetry as Subversive Philosophy

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De Islas, Andrés. (1772)

De Islas, Andrés. (1772). Retrato de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz [Oil on canvas]. Museo de América, Spain. This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art.

Philosopher Mary Midgley and literary scholar Desiree Hellegers each argue that certain English poets have resisted what Midgley calls "scientific imperialism." A "scientific imperialist" sees scientists as conquerors of nature and conveyors of unambiguous truth. Robert Stillman writes that Francis Bacon regarded poets as "epistemological criminals" because of their employment of metaphor and equivocation. However, according to Hellegers, these are in fact the means with which poets were able question oppressive hierarchies of value. In this talk, I argue that Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz also used these techniques in order to simultaneously cloak and celebrate her pursuit of knowledge as a woman in a very different but still hostile social context, and reflect on the ways in which philosophers could reexamine poetry as a medium for doing philosophy.

Sofía Ortiz-Hinojosa is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College and a current Mellon New Directions Fellow. She studies philosophy of mind, epistemology, historical Novohispanic and indigenous Mesoamerican philosophy, and philosophy of psychiatry. She is currently finalizing a translated anthology of the philosophical works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695).