Self-Defense Against Epistemic Violence

When Sor Juana's writings were attacked by a bishop who published a critique without her consent, she responded with a detailed intellectual rebuttal—an act of self-defense against what we now recognize as epistemic violence. She asserted her right to answer, clarify, and defend her positions against public criticism. In libertarian justice, this is self-defense: when someone attacks your credibility, misrepresents your words, or denies your right to knowledge, you have the right to defend yourself through counter-argument, clarification, and public response. This principle protects intellectual minorities from being silenced by more powerful critics. Sor Juana's Response to Sor Filotea models how self-defense in intellectual matters works: not through force, but through rigorous, compelling argument that reasserts one's authority over one's own words and ideas. For libertarian property and freedom, this means protecting the space for rebuttal, correction, and intellectual self-assertion against aggression—whether that aggression comes from institutions, critics, or coordinated campaigns to silence.