Epistemic Authority and Property Rights

Sor Juana challenged the Church's monopoly on theological interpretation, asserting her right to engage directly with texts and form independent judgments. She recognized that epistemic authority—the power to determine truth—is inseparable from personhood and cannot be rightfully alienated. In libertarian terms, this is analogous to property: just as one cannot be forced to surrender ownership of material goods, one cannot be forced to abandon the authority over one's own reasoning. This concept resists authoritarianism in all forms: institutional, intellectual, and political. It grounds freedom in the individual's irreducible right to think, question, and judge for themselves—a right foundational to all other liberties and property claims.