External and Internal

Criticism
Definition and Relevance
By: GROUP 2 :)
There are two ways to criticize a document: 
•  External Criticism
•  Internal Criticism

All relevant historical documents should be

subjected to both external and internal
criticism.
Historians criticize a document to
determine whether a source is authentic or
not.

By criticizing the document, we can ensure

the legitimacy and reliability of the source.
What is External
Criticism?
• also known as lower criticism, is a
tool used by historians to determine
the validity of a document,
particularly a document that holds
historical significance. 

• is the practice of verifying the

authenticity of evidence by examining
its physical characteristics. 
In this practice, historians will ask the
questions: 

•    “Is the document authentic?”

• “Who wrote the document?”
• “When was the document written?”
• “Where was it written?” 
What is Internal Criticism?
• also known as higher criticism, looks
at content of the course and examine
the circumstances of its production,
truthfulness and factuality of the
evidence by looking at the author
source, context, agenda behind its
creation, and its intended purpose. 
What is Internal Criticism?
• In this type of criticism, the historian
should acknowledge and analyze how
such ideas (documents or writings)
could be manipulated and used as a
propaganda.
What is Internal Criticism?
• The historian validates important
historical sources for unverified,
falsified and untruthful historical
source that can lead to equally false
conclusion. Without this thorough
criticism of historical evidences,
historical deceptions and lies will all
be probable. 
In this practice, historians will ask the
questions: 
• “Why was the document written?”
• “What is this document implying?”
• “What is the literal meaning?” 
• “How was the author related to the
subjects in the writing?”
• “Is the author an eyewitness or just a
secondary source?” 
 External criticism primarily
deals with the form,
External vs. appearance and authenticity
Internal while internal criticism,
Criticism weighs the meaning and
credibility in relation to the
truth. 
Relevance of External
and Internal
Criticism
• Internal and external criticism is
important because it leads us to
the truth and debunks which are
genuine, and which are fake.
Relevance of External
and Internal
Criticism
• It uncovers the manipulation,
spurious material, forgeries and
other malpractice.
Relevance of External
and Internal
Criticism
• It seeks for the meaning of
recovering the past.
• It lets us see the continuing
relevance of provenance,
memory, remembering, and
historical understanding for
both the present and the future.