Intellectual Property as Self-Ownership

Sor Juana's relentless defense of her right to study, write, and think—despite institutional pressure—establishes intellectual property as foundational to libertarian justice. Her work demonstrates that ownership of ideas flows from ownership of oneself; to deny a person's intellectual output is to deny their fundamental agency. In the context of libertarian justice, this concept reframes intellectual property not as a state-granted monopoly but as a natural extension of property rights in one's own labor and mind. When we recognize intellectual creation as self-ownership in action, we ground property rights in human dignity rather than legal convenience, making them inseparable from freedom itself.