Contemporary Philosophy and Mexican Culture

Juana Inez De La Cruz

The Achievements Of Sor Juana Inez De La Cruz

Considering the times in which she lived, Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (1648 to 1695) achieved many amazing things that to this day are unrivaled in the annals of the Catholic Church and the history of Mexico, her native land. As the alleged illegitimate daughter of Dona Isabel Ramirez and Pedro Manuel de Asbaje, Inez de la Cruz as a child was very precocious and curious about all things in her environment which, by itself, is rather unexpected, due to being raised in the small and impoverished Mexican village of San Miguel, a place without schools or educational mentors except for the Catholic Church which, at the time, did not see much potential in educating a girl of her social stature.

As Geoffrey Kantaris points out, Inez de la Cruz learned "to read very early. . . And by all accounts had a voracious appetite for knowledge," part of which was supplied by the books owned by her grandfather, some being editions of the classics from Europe ("Sor Juana Inez," Internet). Undoubtedly, it was de la Cruz's insatiable desire for knowledge that set her on the course to become one of the most important scholars and writers of her generation during the turbulent years of the mid to late 1600's.

One of Inez de la Cruz's earliest achievements occurred when she was sent to live with her mother's sister. It was in this new environment that de la Cruz began to excel, for her aunt allowed her to attend a nearby school where she allegedly "took a mere twenty lessons in Latin grammar which enabled her to read philosophical and theological works in the language" (Kantaris, Internet). By this time, many in her community, even those in the Catholic Church, began to take notice of her and it was not long before she became known as a child prodigy, a situation almost unheard of in Mexico during the mid-1600's, especially when the child was a girl without any formal education or social status.

In 1664, Inez de la Cruz came under the influence of Dona Leonor Carreto, the wife of the viceroy of Mexico. Her time spent in this royal court obviously highly influenced her young and developing mind, for she "developed an incredible talent for versification (i.e. The writing of poetry) and was able to hold her own in matters of learning with theologians, mathematicians, philosophers and men of letters" (Kantaris, Internet).

Yet despite these great talents, Inez de la Cruz was considered as an outsider and nothing more than a poor village girl, a situation which soon inspired her to join the convent of San Jeronimo where she would find a modicum of freedom to express her ever-evolving mind. At this convent, Inez de la Cruz "amassed a fine library," made up of books from all over the Catholic world. She also managed to turn this convent "into a center of religious and social life in Mexico," something that far exceeded any similar centers in the New World at the time ("Sor Juana," Internet). In addition, Inez de la Cruz blossomed as a writer, for she "wrote many poems and plays" and even mastered the fundamentals of music (Kantaris, Internet).

Philosophically speaking, Inez de la Cruz was way beyond her time, for she was convinced that women, regardless of their social or hierarchical position, deserved to be educated in all areas of contemporary knowledge. Whether or not she understood or foresaw the vast changes that were to occur in the world following the last decades of the 1600's is unknown, yet it is clear that she had some inklings as to these changes and realized that women would play a major role in them. Yet as Kantaris maintains, "In the context of 17th century New Spain. . .

knowledge (was) a dangerous commodity and one that (was) carefully controlled by the religious hierarchy (and) rigorously policed by the Holy Inquisition" ("Sor Juana Inez," Internet). In the mind of Inez de la Cruz, this "dangerous commodity" was viewed as being the complete opposite to that of the Catholic Church which saw knowledge as a very potential threat to its power base in the world of the 1600's, one dominated by the Spanish Inquisition which desired to destroy all opinions and beliefs contrary to those of the Catholic Church.

Thus, such as situation "was especially dangerous for (Inez de la Cruz) when one considers the historical context," being a period when the Counter Reformation, a movement to crush the religious ideals and tenets of Martin Luther, was in full swing, for "anyone who challenged society's values could easily get into trouble with the all-powerful Church" ("Sor Juana," Internet).

Another aspect of Inez de la Cruz's philosophical attitude toward the lives of women during the 1600's can be found in her Respuesta a Sor Filotea (ca. 1690), often considered by scholars and historians as the first feminist treatise in which she "defended women's rights to any education they desired" ("Sor Juana," Internet). In this treatise or letter, a rather harsh reply to the Bishop of Puebla who "admonished her for her preoccupation with worldly affairs and for the lack of biblical subjects. . . In her study" (Kantaris, Internet), Inez de la Cruz laid out her philosophical beliefs concerning the role of women in society. Since this reply was written in 1690, it pre-dates many similar works by women authors and feminists during the 1700's and 1800's in Europe. One of the best-known of these feminist works was the Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollestonecraft, written in the late 1790's and aimed at exposing the wrongs placed upon women by European society.

Inez de la Cruz also wrote other literary pieces with similar messages, several being the poem Hombres necios in which she declares that all women must be respected for their accomplishments and contributions to society as human beings. This poem also highly criticized "the sexism of the society of her time," a reference to men controlling all aspects of the world, and attacked those "who condemn prostitution, as men are those who benefit the most from its existence" (Kantaris, Internet).