Luís António Verney

Luís António Verney (23 July 1713 – 23 March 1792) was a Portuguese philosopher, theologian, and pedagogue. An estrangeirado, Verney is sometimes called the most important figure of the Portuguese Enlightenment.

Most notably, Verney advocated a plan to completely reform the educational system in Portugal, in radical opposition to the methods employed at the time by the Jesuits, who had long had a near-monopoly on teaching in the country; his controversial manifesto, Verdadeiro Método de Estudar (first published anonymously in 1746), would later serve as the basis for many of the educational reforms instituted under the Marquis of Pombal.