Intellectual Property as Self-Ownership

Sor Juana's relentless defense of her right to study, write, and publish established intellectual work as an expression of selfhood itself. In libertarian justice, this concept argues that property rights originate not from state grant but from the natural ownership of one's own mind and its productions. Sor Juana's struggle against institutional censorship and forced silence demonstrates how denying someone the fruits of their intellect violates their fundamental freedom. This framework rejects the notion that knowledge belongs to authorities—church, crown, or collective—and instead roots property rights in the inalienable connection between thought and thinker. Applied today, this concept challenges intellectual monopolies while defending creators' control over their own work and ideas as a matter of justice and dignity.