The framework balancing universal access to human knowledge with individual rights to one's own intellectual contributions, preventing both gatekeeping and appropriation.
Sor Juana believed in the power of knowledge to liberate and wanted access to learning expanded to all—yet she also fiercely protected her own intellectual contributions from erasure. This tension reflects a deeper principle: knowledge exists in a dynamic relationship between collective heritage and individual property. All humans inherit the accumulated wisdom of their culture and past; this is collective property in a real sense. Yet individuals who create new knowledge have legitimate property rights in their own contributions. Sor Juana's tradition reconciles these by insisting on open access to existing knowledge (breaking institutional monopolies on learning) while protecting individual creators' rights to their new work. In libertarian terms, this means opposing gatekeeping that restricts access to knowledge, while simultaneously defending authors' rights to control and benefit from their creations. Justice requires both: knowledge should flow freely enough that all can learn, but individuals retain property rights in what they create. This framework prevents both hoarding of wisdom and theft of intellectual labor.
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