Historical

Critism
Group 1
 What is
Historical
Criticism?
 Historical Criticism
• Branch of history which looked at
literature of evidence about economic
and political events going on at the
time at which the works were
produced, and that also looked at
historical events to explain the content
of literary works.
• Is the reflection of the author's life
through the author’s works.
Historical Source
What is a Historical 'Source'?
• A source is something that
provides information about
the historical topic you are
studying. They can either
be written (e.g., books or
websites), or non-written
(e.g., photographs or
artifacts).
Kinds of
Sources
 seconda
ry
Primary
source is Secondary
• The Source
"raw materials" / foundation • It is a piece of
when
of they
historical research and
Source
historical
writing (i.e.,
writing,
were the echoes, fragments, historiography) that is
shards,
made. etc. from the past that anchored in primary
historians
•cobble collect and then
Theretogether in their works of sources and informed by
are two
historiography.
secondary sources.
levels of personal
• Examples: • Examples: books
journals/diaries/memoirs,
historica letters, (popular history books,
court textbooks, academic
l proceedings, legislative works, printed theses),
debates,
criticismnewspaper and academic journal articles,
magazine
that a articles, movies, websites.
music, art,
historian etc.
needs to
utilize in
order to
confirm
 External
Criticisms
 External Critism
• Also known as “lower
criticism”
• It involves the analysis of the
physical characteristics,
historical context, and
materials used in a document.
External Criticism by Candelaria and
Alporha, 2018
• The practice of verifying the AUTHENTICITY of
evidence by examining its:
⚬ Physical characteristics;
⚬ Consistency with the historical characteristics of
the time when it was produced;
⚬ And the materials used for evidence.
• Examples of the things that will be examined when
conducting external criticism of a document include
the quality of the paper, the type of the ink, and the
language and words used in the material among others
 External Criticism
Is a tool used by historians to determine
the VALIDITY of a document,
particularly a document with some sort of
historical significance.
Authenticity vs. Validity
• Authenticity
⚬ pertains to whether a document is genuine and can
be attributed to the claimed source or time period.
⚬ examining the physical characteristics of the
document, such as paper quality, ink type,
handwriting, and other external features.
• Validity
⚬ refers to the extent to which the information or
evidence used in a historical source or document is
reliable and trustworthy.
⚬ authorship, authenticity, assessment or reliability,
identification of anachronisms or inconsistencies,
 It ventures toward inquiry regarding:
Authorship
• Provides credit for an individual's contributions to a study
and carries accountability.
• Attribution of credit to individuals who have made
substantial contributions to the research project or paper.
Originality and accuracy of the copy
• This pertains to determining whether the copy's content is
original, which means whether it hasn't been plagiarized or
copied without due credit. It also entails checking the
accuracy of the data provided in the text to make sure it is
factual and reliable.
If errors are found it helps assess the nature of errors found (if they are
scribal errors or others of errors)
The problem
of
AUTHENCIT
Y
Determine the date of the document to see
whether they are anachronistic
• In determining the evidence of date, the
researcher also looks at the language used, the
sequence and relationship of events, the spirit and
temper in the writing. There is also an attempt to
detect spurious documents by assessing if the
document is a forgery, if a result of plagiarism,
and assess erroneous identities.
Determine the author
• Handwriting - The primary basis of handwriting analysis
as a science is that every person in the world has a unique
way of writing.
• Signature - A signature has more than one purpose and can
act as a form of identification of the signatory and
confirmation of the contents of a document. It also acts as a
form of verification that whatever document is signed, is
indeed true, real and valid.
• Seal - A seal is used to authenticate or validate a document
in place of, or alongside, a signature. In history, seals have
a long history going back to the earliest civilizations.
Anachronism
• Something placed in the wrong period of time
• Greek word " Anachronous" means "Against
time"
• IMPORTANCE: it helps us test the reliability of
Historical
a source.anachronism
• is committed when historian uses a word or a
historical concept that is taken out of context
and uses it to describe or interpret a past event
Anachronistic style
• Something that's old-fashioned and maybe a little out
of place
 Styles
• Idiom Anachronistic
⚬ Example: it is a piece reference to events
of cake
⚬ You hit the red button • Too early
• Orthography • Too late
⚬ EXAMPLE • Too
￭ Rose not rows remote
￭ Right not write
• Punctuation
⚬ Example:
￭ Period (.)
￭ Commas (,)
Provenance or custody
• Determining its genuineness
• From the French word provenir, which means "to come from,"
provenance is the history of ownership of a valued object, such as a
work of art. A full provenance provides a documented history that
can help prove ownership, assign the work to a known artist, and
establish the work of art's authenticity. This information can provide
valuable context for understanding the text and can be used to
assess its authenticity, accuracy, and reliability.
Semantics
• Determining the meaning of a text or word
• Semantics in external criticism refers to the analysis of the
meanings of words or phrases used in a literary work and their
impact on the interpretation of the text. In semantic analysis, there is
always an attempt to focus on what the words conventionally mean,
rather than on what an individual speaker .This technical approach
is concerned with objective or general meaning and avoids trying to
account for subjective or local meaning.
Hermeneutics
• Determine ambiguities
• Hermeneutics plays an essential role in interpreting and analyzing a
text in its historical and cultural context. Hermeneutics refers to the
study of interpretation, which helps in determining the meaning and
significance of a text. It involves analyzing the language, context,
and authorial intention of a text to make sense of it.
 criticism
looks for
the
• To spot fabricated, forged, faked
obvious
sign of
documents
forgery or
• To distinguish a hoax or misrepresentation
misreprese
ntation
and to
ascertain if
a
particular
data is
fabricated,
forge,
With regard to the author of the document:

• Was the author present at the event he or she is

describing?
• Was the author a participant in or an observer of
the event?
• Was the author competent to describe the event?
• Was the author emotionally involved in the event?
• Did the author have any vested interest in the
outcomes of the event?
 With regard to the contents of the
document:
• Does the content make sense?
• Could the event described have occurred at the
same time?
• Would people have behaved as described?
• Does the language of the document suggest a bias
of any sort?
• Do other versions of the event exist? Do they
present a different description or interpretation of
what happened?
References
• Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Historical criticism. Encyclopædia
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/historical-criticism-literary-
criticism
• Siegle, D. (2015, June 11). Historical research. Educational Research Basics
by Del Siegle. https://researchbasics.education.uconn.edu/historical_research/
• Sagoff, M. (1978). Historical authenticity. JSTOR.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20010580.pdf
• What determines if a historical source is valid?. Study.com. (n.d.).
https://homework.study.com/explanation/what-determines-if-a-historical-
source-is-valid.html#
• Module 3 external and internal criticism. Studocu. (2020, August 24).
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/university-of-rizal-system/readings-
in-philippine-history/module-3-external-and-internal-criticism/22505332
• Palliveettil, J. (2020, May 19). External criticism. Historiagraphy and Method
- Blogspot. http://historiographyandmethod.blogspot.com/2020/05/external-
criticism.html
• Nature Publishing Group. (n.d.). Authorship. Nature news.
https://www.nature.com/nature-portfolio/editorial-policies/authorship
• Provenance: What is it and why should it matter to you?. Artwork Archive.
(2016, October 31). https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/provenance-what-
is-it-and-why-should-it-matter-to-you
• Semantic features. University of Washington. (n.d.).
https://faculty.washington.edu/losterho/semantics_yule.pdf
Thank You
for
listening!