Lesson 2: Historiography: Internal and External Criticism: What Is Historical Criticism?

LESSON 2: HISTORIOGRAPHY: INTERNAL AND
EXTERNAL CRITICISM
History and the Historian
If history is written with agenda or is heavily influenced by the historian, is it

possible to come up with an absolute historical truth? Is history an objective
discipline? If it is not, is it still worthwhile to study history? These questions have
haunted historians for many generations. Indeed, an exact and accurate
account of the past is impossible for the very simple reason that we cannot go
back to the past. We cannot access the past directly as our subject matter.
Historians only get to access representation of the past through historical
resources and evidences (Candelaria and Alporha, 2018).
External Criticism:
What is Historical Criticism? The problem of authenticity;
To spot fabricated, forged, faked documents;
In order for a source to be used as To distinguish a hoax or misrepresentation.
evidence in history, basic matters
about its form and content must be
settled. This is may be done through:
External Criticism
Internal Criticism:
Internal Criticism The Problem of Credibility
opted Relevant particulars in the document – is it
credible?
**Gottschalk (1969) Verisimilar – as close as what really happened
from a critical examination of best available
sources.
External Criticism: Test of Authenticity
1. Determine the date of the document to

see whether they are anachronistic
(e.g. pencils did not exist before the
16th Century)
2. Determine the author (e.g. handwriting,
signature, seal).
3. Anachronistic style (e.g. idiom,
orthography, punctuation)
4. Anachronistic reference to events (e.g.
too early, too late, too remote)
5. Provenance or custody (determines its
genuineness). 6
6. Semantics – determining the meaning of
a text or word. **Neuman (2003); image is from google image.
7. Hermeneutics – determining ambiguities.
This module is intended only for distant learning of students at Palawan State University. You may not sell, alter, or further reproduce or
distribute any part of this course module to any other person. The contents of this module were adapted and revised by Ms. Jazelle Dyana
Lizz G. Zerrudo with proper citation.
EXTERNAL CRITICISM
Internal Criticism: Test of Authenticity
1. Identification of the author (e.g. to

determine his reliability; mental
processes, personal attitudes)
2. Determination of the approximate date.
3. Ability to tell the truth (nearness to the
event, competence of witness, degree
of attention)
4. Willingness to tell the truth (to determine if
the author consciously or unconsciously
tells falsehoods).
5. Corroboration (i.e. historical facts –
particulars which rest upon the
independent testimony of two or more
**Neuman (2003); image is from google image.
reliable witnesses).
**Gottschalk (1969)
Three Major Components to opted

Effective Historical Thinking:
Awareness of
Sensitivity the interplay
Sensitivity to of continuity
to Multiple
Context and change
Causation in human
affairs
History has been used to control minds. If not by absolute suppression or fabrication of events, at least by
their slight distortion. The catastrophic result of this is that the colonizers became the unselfish, humane and
selfless partners.
This “invented history” by the colonizers became an important component in the progression of colonial
consciousness or mentality. This “fictional history” hides the fact of the insensitive motivations of the
colonizers and their native collaborators towards making colonization easier to accept. This mental
conditioning has made it easy for the colonizers to make the colonized believe that the policies implemented
by the former is for their own welfare and benefit.
7
EXTERNAL CRITICISM
SOURCE EXAMINATION!
INSTRUCTION:
Read the articles: (1) Santiago Alvarez.(2003). Katipunan and the Revolution: Memoirs of a
General. Ateneo de Manila University Press (translated by Carolina Malay-Ocampo); and
(2) Seeds of Discontent in Agoncillo, Teodoro A. (2002). The Revolt of the Masses: The Story of
Bonifacio and the Katipunan, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. Then complete the
comparative matrix below:
HISTORICAL SOURCE DATE OF OBJECTIVE PERSONS MAIN BIAS

THE OF THE INVOLVED ARGUMENT
EVENT EVENT
Primary Source:
Santiago Alvarez.
Katipunan and the
Revolution: Memoirs of a
General
opted
Secondary Source:
Seeds of Discontent in
Agoncillo, Teodoro A.
(2002).

Lesson 2: Historiography: Internal and External Criticism: What Is Historical Criticism?

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Lesson 2: Historiography: Internal and External Criticism: What Is Historical Criticism?

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LESSON 2: HISTORIOGRAPHY: INTERNAL AND

If history is written with agenda or is heavily influenced by the historian, is it

External Criticism: Test of Authenticity

1. Determine the date of the document to

Internal Criticism: Test of Authenticity

1. Identification of the author (e.g. to

Three Major Components to opted

HISTORICAL SOURCE DATE OF OBJECTIVE PERSONS MAIN BIAS

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