The Right to Self-Directed Learning

Sor Juana's autodidactic path—educating herself through voracious reading when formal education was denied to women—demonstrates the fundamental liberty of intellectual self-direction. Libertarian justice requires protecting individuals' right to choose their own educational paths, sources, and methods without coercive state or institutional control. Sor Juana's defiance of the Church's censorship and her insistence on pursuing science, theology, and philosophy on her own terms models resistance to intellectual paternalism. This concept establishes that true freedom includes ownership of one's learning trajectory; no authority should monopolize knowledge or dictate what minds may explore, think, or question.