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Join us for "Epistemological Criminals: 17th Century Poetry as Subversive Philosophy," presented by Sofía Ortiz-Hinojosa, an assistant professor of philosophy at Vassar College and a current Mellon New Directions Fellow.

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, Ortiz-Hinojosa argues  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.

Ortiz-Hinojosa 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).

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