Testimony and Epistemic Authority

Sor Juana's marginalization by ecclesiastical and patriarchal authorities was not only political but epistemic: she was denied credibility as a witness to truth simply because she was a woman challenging male theological authority. Libertarian justice includes protection for one's right to testify, to be heard as a knower, and to have one's evidence and reasoning respected without dismissal based on identity. When institutions systematically deny epistemic authority to certain groups, they violate their property right to their own knowledge and voice. Sor Juana's insistence on her competence as a theologian, scientist, and philosopher was a claim to epistemic property: the right to own and assert her understanding. This concept recognizes that freedom includes the social condition of being recognized as capable of knowledge, not merely the formal right to speak.