Intellectual Property as Sacred Right

Sor Juana's vast literary and scientific output was constantly threatened by institutional censorship and appropriation. She understood that intellectual property—the ownership of ideas, writing, and knowledge—forms the bedrock of libertarian justice. When a person's thoughts are claimed by church, state, or patron without consent, their freedom is violated at its deepest level. Sor Juana's defense of her own writings as her property established a principle: creative and intellectual work belongs to the creator, not to power structures that seek to control it. This concept extends libertarian justice beyond physical property into the realm of mind and expression, recognizing that freedom of thought requires freedom of intellectual ownership. In modern contexts, this challenges both institutional monopolies and state censorship of knowledge.