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The aim of this article is to discuss the idea of “good reason” as a key term in the context of the Portuguese Enlightenment. As is well known, King Dom José enacted the famous law of August 18, 1769, which, due the content of his propositions, became known as the “law of good reason”. This law ended up serving to refer to the measures implemented by Marquês de Pombal in the field of Law, representing an alignment of the kingdom with the modern tendencies of jusnaturalism, connected to the process of centralization of power, secularization and organization based on a rationality adequate to the new times. In an attempt to better understand the meaning that this term assumed in the linguistic context of the 18th century in Portugal, some uses and meanings of this term are discussed in 18th century documents. In addition to the “law of good reason”, it will be analyzed some Reform documents of the University of Coimbra and LuizAntónioVerney’s true method of studying. This article also aims to contribute to a glossary of eighteen century terms for the Culture and Education in the Iberian Empires research group (CEIbero). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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