Consent as the Boundary of Legitimate Authority

Sor Juana's lifelong conflict with ecclesiastical authorities hinged on a fundamental question: by what right do they command obedience? She implicitly rejected the notion that authority is self-justifying or that her status as a nun dissolved her individual rights. This concept grounds libertarian justice in consent: power becomes legitimate only when those affected accept it. Without consent, even institutions claiming divine sanction are merely exercising coercive force and expropriating freedom. Sor Juana's eventual forced renunciation of her intellectual work illustrated the violence at the heart of coercive authority—she was compelled to surrender her freedom because the institutional power over her was not consensual but imposed. Libertarian justice requires that all relationships, whether with institutions, employers, or communities, remain grounded in genuine consent. When consent is absent or manufactured through coercion, the relationship becomes exploitative regardless of its legal veneer. Sor Juana's example shows that the most dangerous threat to property and freedom is authority that claims power beyond consent—because once such power is established, all other freedoms become contingent on satisfying the authority's demands.