The Right to Refusal and Conscience

Sor Juana's refusal to abandon scholarship when pressured by Church authorities embodies the libertarian principle that no institution—sacred or secular—may compel conscience. She rejected the false choice between obedience and silence, asserting instead the right to think and write according to her own judgment. For libertarian justice, the right to refusal is primary: it precedes property ownership and establishes the boundary between legitimate authority and tyranny. Sor Juana's example shows that freedom requires the active capacity to say no—to institutions, to tradition, to power itself. When individuals lack the right to refuse, property becomes meaningless; they become property of others. Her intellectual courage illuminates how justice depends on protecting refusal as a fundamental human prerogative, not a privilege granted by authorities.