The Dignity of Autonomous Labor

Sor Juana chose intellectual work—study, writing, teaching through her letters—as her chosen labor. This was radically different from enforced domestic servitude or obligatory roles assigned by family and church. She embodied the principle that dignity attaches to labor that is freely chosen and whose fruits belong to the worker. Libertarian justice recognizes this distinction: work that one controls, that expresses one's values and talents, and from which one keeps the proceeds is fundamentally different from coerced labor or work done under conditions of domination. For Sor Juana, intellectual labor was both subsistence and expression of selfhood. This concept applies across economic life: whether a person does skilled trades, creative work, physical labor, or intellectual work, libertarian justice requires that they choose it freely and retain ownership of its value. It rejects the notion that some people's labor naturally belongs to others by birth or status. Sor Juana's claim to her own work—to pursue knowledge and publish ideas on her terms—asserts the fundamental libertarian principle that people are entitled to the fruits of their own labor.