The Right to Self-Education

Sor Juana's voracious autodidacticism—teaching herself languages, mathematics, theology, and philosophy in a convent library—models education as an act of self-directed appropriation of knowledge. She claimed the right to learn without permission or formal credential. This challenges the idea that education is a service dispensed by authorities; instead, it is a property right of the mind. For libertarian justice, self-education represents freedom from institutional gatekeeping and the reclamation of learning as a personal sovereignty practice. It affirms that no one owns your capacity to think, study, or acquire understanding. The freedom to self-educate without licensing, accreditation, or institutional mediation becomes a litmus test for genuine intellectual liberty. Property rights extend to the time, resources, and cognitive space needed for learning.