The distinction between knowledge systems designed to expand individual capacity and autonomy versus those designed to enforce compliance and deference to authority.
Sor Juana pursued education to expand her understanding and capability—to think freely and engage with the full range of human knowledge. Yet the institutions controlling education in her context used that same tool to limit what women could know, to restrict theological inquiry, and to ensure conformity. This paradox is central to libertarian justice: the same institution can liberate or enslave depending on its structure and incentives. Liberatory education develops critical thinking, encourages questioning, and equips individuals to challenge falsehoods and assert their interests. Controlling education narrows inquiry, privileges authority-approved conclusions, and trains deference. In property and freedom terms, controlling education steals human potential—it prevents individuals from developing their own intellectual property. Libertarian justice requires education structured for individual autonomy: access based on ability and interest rather than privilege or identity, curriculum driven by genuine inquiry rather than doctrine, and credentialing that reflects actual competence. Sor Juana's self-education, despite institutional barriers, models the liberatory possibility.
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