Intellectual Property as Self-Ownership

Sor Juana's prolific intellectual output—poetry, theology, science—was an expression of her autonomous mind and identity. In Libertarian justice, intellectual property derives not from state decree but from natural self-ownership: the thinker owns her thoughts as she owns her labor. Sor Juana fought for recognition that women's intellectual work held the same property claims as men's, challenging both Church censorship and patriarchal denial of female authorship. This concept frames copyright and patent rights as protections of individual liberty, not monopolies granted by power. Applied today, it justifies strong individual ownership of creative works while questioning monopolistic corporate claims that contradict the original self-ownership principle underlying IP law.