Epistemic Justice and Property Rights

Sor Juana challenged the epistemic injustice of her era: women were systematically excluded from intellectual credibility, barred from universities and from being taken seriously as thinkers. She demonstrated that denying someone's right to knowledge and voice is intimately tied to denying their property rights and freedom. If your thoughts are dismissed as invalid, your ownership of them is hollow. Libertarian justice requires epistemic respect—recognizing individuals as legitimate authorities over their own ideas, experiences, and claims. This concept applies directly to property: someone cannot truly own land, labor, or intellectual work if their testimony about it is dismissed based on identity rather than evidence. Sor Juana's *Respuesta* (Response) is an act of epistemic resistance, asserting her right to interpret Scripture and philosophy. Building free societies requires valuing every person's capacity for knowledge and allowing them to speak from that authority.