The Importance of the Critical Method for the Renewal of Catholic Studies in Portugal: the Case of Luís António Verney

Abstract

In this paper, we intend to examine the book Verdadeiro Método de Estudar (“Real Method of Studying”, 1746), by Luís António Verney (1713-1792), as a proposal of renewal of Catholic studies in Portugal based on the critical method. After analyzing the development of the critical method in the 17th and 18th centuries and identifying some of its ramifications in France, Italy and Portugal, we consider Verney’s book in the intellectual context of Italy, where he lived from 1736 on. We then show how the author proposed to reconcile modern philosophy with dogmatic theology. For him, Scholastic Theology as adopted by the Society of Jesus in Portuguese schools and universities was not serving the main aim of theologians and philosophers, namely to defend the Catholic religion satisfactorily against religious heterodoxy.