Epistemic Justice and the Authority to Know

Sor Juana faced systematic dismissal of her intellectual contributions because she was a woman, a colonial subject, and eventually a nun under institutional constraint. Epistemic justice—the right to be recognized as a knower—is central to libertarian property and freedom. If others deny your authority to know and think, they effectively deny you ownership of your own mind. This concept challenges power structures that arbitrarily exclude certain people from the table of intellectual discourse. Sor Juana's defenses of her right to study and publish were acts of epistemic resistance. In practice, libertarian justice requires respecting diverse sources of knowledge, opposing credentialist gatekeeping, and recognizing that marginalized voices often possess crucial insights. True freedom includes the right to be heard as a knower.