Epistemic Justice and Property Claims

Sor Juana was systematically denied recognition as a legitimate knower and authority—her theological opinions were dismissed, her scientific curiosity pathologized as unfeminine, her right to speak treated as forfeit. Epistemic justice—the fair treatment of individuals as knowers—is itself a property right in Sor Juana's framework. When institutions and societies exclude women, the poor, or the marginalized from the production and validation of knowledge, they commit theft of intellectual capacity and opportunity. Libertarian justice requires not only allowing people to think freely but respecting their standing as legitimate producers of knowledge and truth-claims. This concept challenges systems that gatekeep expertise, credentialing, and authority. It demands that property rights in ideas extend to all who generate them, regardless of gender, class, or status. Applied today, it critiques both credential monopolies and the devaluation of non-institutional knowledge work.