Knowledge Barriers and Unjust Distribution

Sor Juana fought against the barriers that prevented women from accessing education, libraries, and intellectual life. In libertarian justice, knowledge distribution is a property issue: denying someone access to learning is a form of theft from the commons and a violation of their potential freedom. When institutions gatekeep education based on gender, class, or status, they commit an injustice comparable to land seizure. Sor Juana's demand for access to books, teachers, and intellectual community was not merely personal ambition—it was a claim to economic and social property rights. Knowledge barriers create artificial scarcity that benefits those in power. True libertarian justice requires removing barriers to self-education and intellectual property access, so that freedom of thought becomes materially possible, not merely theoretical. This concept challenges who controls the means of knowledge production and distribution.