Internal and External Criticism Flashcards
They are not allowed to imagine things and make conclusions based on their imagination
- Historians
_____________ and ___________ of sources are essential to a historian.
- Authenticity and Credibility
Two Types of Criticism
- Problem of Authenticity
- Problem of Crediility
Also known as External Criticism
- Problem of Authenticity
Also known as Internal Criticism
- Problem of Credibility
Problem of authenticity concerns in External Criticism:
– Is the artifact fabricated, forged, or faked?
– Is it a hoax or a misrepresentation?
Why do people create fake things / misrepresentations/ etc. ?
External Criticism
According to Gottschalk (1969), artifacts are fabricated for several reasons:
- Fame
- Fortune
- Power
- Control/ Influence
Steps in Identifying Hoax / Testing Authenticity
- Determine the date of the document to see whether they are not anachronistic (e.g. pencils did not exist during
the 16th century) - Determining the author (e.g. handwriting, signature, seal)
- Look for anachronistic style (e.g. idiom, orthography, and punctuation that don’t belong to that certain period)
- Look for anachronistic reference to events (e.g. is it too late, too early, or too remote?)
- Identifying provenance or custody (e.g. genuineness)
- Determining semantics (the meaning of the text/word; does this word exist during this time?)
- Determining hermeneutics (ambiguities)
Internal Criticism problem of credibility concerns:
- Is It Credible?
Items, artifacts, etc. must be as close to the event/time/person being referred
- Credibility
Steps in Determining Credible
- Identification of the author (e.g. to determine his reliability, mental process, personal attitudes)
- Determination of the approximate date (e.g. as close to the event as possible)
- Ability to tell the truth (e.g. nearness to the event, competence of witness, degree of attention)
- Willingness to say the truth (e.g. determine if the author consciously or unconsciously tells falsehoods)
- Corroboration (e.g. historical facts– particulars which rest upon the independent testimony of two or more reliable witness).
Our Views of History
- History is not Linear
- History is not Stagnant
“History is written by the winners? No, history is written by everyone”
Bad Historical Thinking
“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
- Kadri Rightly
Dangers in having too many perspectives:
- Misleading Revisionism
- Confusion
This is where ________ and ________ come into the picture.
They test objects, artifacts, documents, etc. to verify whether these did exist before
Science and Research
There is nothing _______ or _______ in history, but history should, at least, be
________ and must be _________.
- Right or Wrong
- Accurate, Factual
“Who says history is stagnant? For a historian, facts do not change; it is the way we look at things, our interpretations, that are always changing. This is what makes history exciting - that we can always find something new in what is old.”
- Ambeth R. Ocampo
Effective Historical Thinking
- Historical Significance
- Primary Source Evidence
- Continuity and Change
- Cause and Consequence
- Historical Perspective
- Ethical Dimensions
Why is this significant?
Historical Significance
Where did I get such information?
Primary Source Evidence
Has there been recent news about this?
Continuity and Change
What are the reasons and motivation for such artifact?
Cause and Consequence
Am I biased? Do I understand socio-cultural settings?
Historical Perspective
Do I learn from it? Why am I responsible?)
Ethical Dimensions
Other Effective Historical Thinking:
- have an OPEN MIND
- be in control of your BIASES
- always check for FACTS
- refer to PRIMARY/ SECONDARY SOURCES
- seek to be WELL-INFORMED
