‘Las ciencias curiosas’: Curiosity, Studiousness and the New Philosophy in the Carta de Sor Filotea de la Cruz and the Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz

What is it about?

The 'Carta de Sor Filotea' and the 'Respuesta a Sor Filotea', an exchange of letters between a seventeenth-century Mexican nun and her Bishop, is one of the most important examples of writing by women in the early modern period. In this article, I show for the first time that the exchange also contains a significant discussion of the concepts of 'curiosity' and 'studiousness', and the ways in which they were associated both with women's learning, and with the study of scientific ideas.

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Why is it important?

This article demonstrate the presence of the discourse of 'curiosity' and 'studiousness' in an example of Spanish colonial writing. In doing so, it expands our understanding of how the terms were used in an extra-European context. Furthermore, it transforms our understanding of the 'Respuesta' from being a text primarily about women's writing, to one that also engages in significant intellectual debates.