The Right to Public Intellectual Labor

Sor Juana's publication of her works—poetry, theological defenses, philosophical treatises—asserts the right to labor in the public intellectual sphere and to receive recognition and compensation for that work. This concept challenges gender and status restrictions that exclude individuals from markets for intellectual production. Libertarian justice requires equal access to platforms, audiences, and compensation for intellectual labor regardless of gender, class, or institutional affiliation. Sor Juana's entry into the republic of letters—competing with male intellectuals, engaging in public debate, claiming authorship—establishes that freedom requires removing institutional barriers to intellectual work and its compensation. Her example illuminates how property rights extend to the right to sell one's intellectual labor in open markets, to refuse undercompensation, and to control the distribution of one's published work. The right to public intellectual labor is foundational to libertarian justice because it protects individuals' ability to accumulate intellectual capital and achieve economic independence through knowledge work.