Intellectual Legacy as Transgenerational Property

Sor Juana's writings, preserved and published after her death, became part of human intellectual inheritance and property distributed for generations. She could not control what happened to her work after her death, yet her legacy remained hers in a meaningful sense. This reveals an important dimension of libertarian property theory: intellectual creations have a temporal dimension that physical property does not. Your words and ideas circulate, influencing others, creating value and meaning across generations. Libertarian justice must account for transgenerational intellectual property: people should have enforceable rights over what happens to their creative work even after death, comparable to physical property inheritance. Sor Juana's tradition shows that intellectual legacy matters profoundly—her ideas continue shaping how we understand freedom, justice, and women's rights. Applied practically, this concept supports robust rights of authors and creators to control their work's publication, adaptation, and commercial use, to designate successors who honor their vision, and to prevent unauthorized exploitation. It also recognizes that some intellectual legacy belongs to humanity rather than individuals, requiring balance between creator rights and public benefit. True property justice includes protecting people's rightful claims over the lasting products of their mind.