Internal and

External
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HISTORICAL
CRITICISM
▪ Historical criticism (also known
as historicism or higher criticism) refers
to the study of literary texts, particularly
ancient texts and especially the Bible, in
terms of their historical origins and
development within those contexts. 
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EXTERNAL CRITICISM
▪ Sometimes called as “lower criticism”.
▪ The genuineness of the document
▪ Form and appearance and more
particularly to question of authorship
and textual circumstances such as time,
place and purpose.
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TESTS OF AUTHENTICITY
1. Anachronistic Document Date
2. Author
3. Anachronistic Style
4. Anachronistic Event Reference
5. Provenance or Custody
6. Semantics
7. Hermeneutics
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1. ANACHRONISTIC DOCUMENT DATE

▸ Determining the date of the document

to see whether they are anachronistic
(i.e. being out of time).
▸ Example: Mobile phones did not
come into fashion before the 21st
century.
 2. AUTHOR
6

▸ Determining the author’s

manuscript (handwriting), which
includes the signature and seals.
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3. Anachronistic style
▸ Determining whether the idiom,
orthography (conventional spelling),
or punctuations.
▸ Example: The spelling of the Filipino
term “catuiran” fell out use by the
early 20th century.
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4. Anachronistic event reference

▸ Determining whether the event

mentioned is too early, too late, or to
remote/distant.
▸ Example: Rizal was not executed on
the year 1901.
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5. PROVENANCE OR CUSTODY

▸ Determining the
genuineness.
10

6. SEMANTICS
▸ Determining the meaning of the text,
phrase, sentence, or word.
▸ Example: The term “paraluman” was
once defined as a device to serve as a
guide (compass) but it is now defined as
a woman who becomes sources of
inspiration due to her beauty (muse).
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7. HERMENEUTICS
▸ Determining the ambiguity (meaning
open to more than one interpretation;
vague).
▸ Example: Juan Luna’s critically
acclaimed painting “Spolarium”, can be
interpreted into two (2) ways.
12

INTERNAL CRITICISM
▪ Sometimes called as “higher criticism”.
▪ The meaning and trustworthiness of the contents of the documents
▪ Value and worth of its contents, its literal meaning and the reliability
of the statements themselves.
▪ May be carried on positively or negatively, the first being the
approach of discovering the real meaning of the text and the second
that approach with a view to find reasons for disbelieving what the
document says thus putting to question the author’s good faith,
motive, competence, accuracy and even his knowledge on the subject
covered.
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TESTS OF CREDIBILITY
1. Authors Identification – author’s reliability, mental processes, personal attitude
and relationships.
2. Date approximation – the event’s date that must be verisimilar (almost close to
the truth), if not exact to actual date.
3. Ability to Tell the Truth – the witness’ nearness to the event, competence, and
degree of attention to attain verisimilar facts.
4. Willingness to Tell the Truth – if the author consciously or unconsciously tells
falsehoods.
5. Corroboration – the piece of information receives, supports, or confirms a theory
or finding, usually referring to historical facts (i.e. particulars that rest upon the
independent testimony of two or more reliable witnesses.
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SOME APPLICATIONS
▪ Photograph Manipulation
▪ E-mail and Internet Fraud
▪ Archaeology and History
▪ Journalism
▪ Legal Studies
ARTIFACTS
▪ Is a material made by man that
describes what culture he belongs
to.
▪ It does not necessarily refer to the
Physical objects.
SOCIOFACTS
▪ The ways in which people organize
their society and relate to one
another.
▪ It is the information tradition, or
event people associate with that
artifact.
MENTIFACTS
▪ The ideas, belief and values that
people hold on, see and associate to
the artifact.
▪ The ideas that people generally
thought of whenever they see or use
that artifact and relate it to their
culture or a local proverb or saying.
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ALWAYS REMEMBER
▸ One can safely say that a tool (the artifact)
involves the custom (the sociofact) where that tool
is used for, and the ideas, and concepts behind it
(the mentifact).
▸ Culture is created by the people. Culture is
learned.
▸ One can speak, think, and act the way one does
because of the people and the culture one is
surrounded with.
Powerpoint Credits: SlidesCarnival