Epistemic Justice and Property Rights

As a woman, an intellectual, and a person of mixed heritage in New Spain, Sor Juana's words were systematically discredited by those in power, who believed her testimony and analysis were unfit for serious consideration. Epistemic injustice—the denial of someone's authority to know and speak—is a form of property violation in libertarian terms. When you deny someone the right to be heard as a knower, to have their experience validated, or to contribute to shared understanding, you strip them of ownership over their own mind and voice. Sor Juana's insistence that she had earned the right to speak on theology, philosophy, and science through study and reason reframes credibility not as a status granted by elites, but as something individuals possess through competence and integrity. In libertarian justice, property rights must include epistemic property: the right to claim ownership of your own knowledge, experience, and testimony without having them invalidated by prejudice or power.