Prelim Lesson: Historical Criticism

LESSON 3 What are the Types of Historical Criticism?

Lesson Objectives There are two types of historical criticism namely

External Criticism and Internal Criticism.
At the end of the lesson, the learners will be able to:
What is External Criticism?
1. Determine the meaning of historical criticism,
its importance, and types External Criticism determines whether a historical
2. Make a historical criticism on a chosen event, data, source, document, artifact
historical event, data or source using external and and the like are real/true/authentic/genuine/ and
internal criticism. original.
It asks the following questions:
What is Historical Criticism? 1. Who is the author? Is he/she the real author?
2. Where was it written/made? Is it true that it
Criticism is basically to assess, evaluate, examine, was written there?
appraise or appreciate something. 3. When was it written/made? Is true that it was
To engage in criticism is to criticize or to make a written at the time?
critique which means to judge the value, worth, 4. Is it original or fake?
quality, grade, authenticity, relevance, meaning of 5. How and why did it survive?
something. The one who criticizes is called the critic (researchgate.net and slideplayer.com).
(www.merriam-webster.com).
What is Internal Criticism?

Historical criticism is a criticism on history. It is a It determines the meaning, accuracy and value of the
criticism on historical events, sources, artifacts, historical event, data, sources, artifacts, documents
documents, and testimonies among others to among others. Its focus is the content. It asks the
understand the world behind them. following questions:
(Soulen, Richard N.; Soulen, R. Kendall (2001).
Handbook of biblical criticism). 1. Is it a primary or secondary source? Is it an
eyewitness or secondhand account?
Why is Historical Criticism Necessary? 2. Why was it written/made? Or why did it
happen?
Historical criticism is not simply about finding faults 3. Is there consistence or inconsistence in it?
and mistakes on history or on historical events, 4. What is its meaning (literal or contextual)?
sources, artifacts, documents, and the like for the sake 5. what is its /worth/value, relevance and
of finding faults, instead it is an analysis of historical importance?
events, sources, artifacts, documents and others 6. What are its connotations and implications?
to determine their authenticity, originality, facticity, (researchgate.net and slideplayer.com).
and understand their meaning, relevance, significance
or value (http://queergrace.com/historical-criticism/).  External Criticism and Internal Criticism are
not opposed to each other but rather
Historical criticism is an essential component of complement each other.
historical research. Historical Research is conducted for
several good reasons:  Once a historical event, data, document and
others are determined to be authentic
1. Prevent the mistakes of the past from (external criticism) then there is a need to
happening again determine whether or not its meaning or
2. Learn from the past how to solve current content is accurate (internal criticism).
problems
3. Use the lessons and experiences of the past to
predict the present and future  In other word, before one deals with the
4. To understands everything in the present content (internal), one has to deal with the
because everything is a product of the past. form and appearance (external) first.
5. Examine patterns and trends across time (https://researchbasics.education.uconn.edu/hi
6. Be inspired by the achievements of the past storical_research/)
7. Be able to preserve and sustain good practices,
traditions, laws, and norms
8. To improve life and the world-
https://researchbasics.education.uconn.edu/historical_
research/#
Internal and External Criticism
Lesson 3 • Why do people create fake things/
misrepresentations/etc.?

• According to Gottschalk (1969), artifacts are

fabricated for several reasons:

1. Fame
2. Fortune
3. Power
4. Control/Influence

How to distinguish hoax? How to test

authenticity?

Steps in identifying hoax/testing authenticity:

Lesson Objectives

• Determine the date of the document to see

To know what Historical Criticism is
whether they are not anachronistic (ex. pencils did not
To be able to identify historical sources that are
exist during the 16th century)
credible and authentic To appreciate history as a
branch of science
• Determining the author (ex. handwriting,
To become more open-minded and flexible in the
signature, seal)
changes of our history
• Look for anachronistic style (ex. idiom,
orthography, and punctuation that don’t belong to that
Internal and External Criticism Distinction certain period)

Historical Criticism • Look for anachronistic reference to events (ex.

is it too late, too early, or too remote?)
• Historians are not allowed to imagine things
and make conclusions based on their imagination • Identifying provenance or custody (ex.
genuineness)
• Authenticity and Credibility of sources are
essential to a historian. • Determining semantics (the meaning of the
text/word; does this word exist during this time?)

How do we know if this source is authentic and • Determining hermeneutics (ambiguities)

credible?

Internal Criticism
Tw o Types of C riticism
• Problem of credibility concerns:
– Is it credible?
Problem of Authenticity
Also known as External Criticism
• Credibility – Items, artifacts, etc. must be as
close to the event/time/person being referred
Problem of Credibility
Also known as Internal Criticism How to know if its credible?

Steps in determining credible

External Criticism
• Identification of the author (ex. to determine
his reliability, mental process, personal attitudes)
External Criticism
• Determination of the approximate date (ex. as
• Problem of authenticity concerns: close to the event as possible)
– Is the artifact fabricated, forged, or faked?
– Is it a hoax or a misrepresentation? • Ability to tell the truth (ex. nearness to the
event, competence of witness, degree of attention) and motivation for such artifact?)

• Willingness to say the truth (ex. determine if • Historical Perspective (Am I biased? Do I
the author consciously or unconsciously tells understand socio-cultural settings?)
falsehoods)
• Ethical Dimensions (Do I learn from it? Why
• Corroboration (ex. historical facts – particulars am I responsible?)
which rest upon the independent testimony of two or
more reliable witness).

Our Views of History  Have an open mind.

History is not linear.  Be in control of your biases.

 Always check for facts.

• Bad historical thinking: History is written by
the winners? No, history is written by everyone.
 Refer to primary/secondary sources.
• There will always be numerous perspectives of
history.  Seek to be well-informed.

– “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom

fighter.” (Kadri Rightly)

• However, there are dangers in having too

many perspectives:
– Misleading Revisionism
– Confusion

• This is where science and research come into

the picture. They test objects, artifacts, documents,
etc. to verify whether these did exist before.

– There is nothing right or wrong in history, but

history should, at least, be accurate and must be
factual.

H istory is not stagnant.

• Challenges:
– How to think critically towards the changes in
our history?

Effective Historical Thinking

• Historical Significance (why is this significant?)

• Primary Source Evidence (where did I get such

information?)

• Continuity and Change (has there been recent

news about this?)

• Cause and Consequence (what are the reasons