Week 2

Readings in Philippine History

Overview
This week, you’re going to spend time familiarizing yourself with the Historical Criticisms. You are
going to know the major historical methodology – how to the critique historical sources not only
used by historians but also You as a future inform and equip professional.

Introduction
In the study of Philippine history, basically identifying the different and significance of Historical
sources that within the Week, students must be familiarize on how to evaluate historical sources
that whether the sources are authentic or can be considered as historical hoax!

THINK ABOUT THIS

In Evaluating Sources, it is important to know the 2 types of Criticism that

Historians used to know the authenticity of the sources. Read them thoroughly:

External Criticism – in historical method, this is known as the science of a

document that involves the usage of the senses: physical and technical testing of
data, especially primary and secondary sources in written forms that involve
knowledge to the document itself.

Internal Criticism – part of the historical method which determines the historicity
of facts contained in the documents by checking the accuracy of the data from
the degree of credibility of the writer, timeframe of documents itself that influence
the data and character of the sources that should be investigated objectively.
Figure 1: Taken from Research Gate (dot) net

For the use of external criticism, the following questions (Good, cited by Good and Socrates,
1972) were used to examine the documents and to verify whether it is authentic or not:

1. Who was the author, not merely what was his name but what about his
personality, character, and position?
2. What were his general qualifications as a reporter - alertness, character, and
bias?
3. What were his special qualifications and disqualifications as a reporter of the
matters here treated?
4. How soon after the events was the document written?
5. How was the document written, from memory, after consultation with others,
after checking the facts, or by combining earlier trial drafts?
6. How is the document related to other documents?

In relation, internal criticism is the “language of data”1 (Navarro et. al. 2011), which emphasizes
the credibility, trustworthiness, and authenticity of the data. The researcher also used
constructive criticism, particularly Positive Criticism and Negative Criticism – Positive Criticism is
usually used to provide a better orientation, or frame of reference, or which the targeted person
would approve of while Negative Criticism is to disseminate and converse all possible reasons for
doubting o eliminate the event of the data. To analyze the data, the method of contextualization
of the event will be applied (Navarro et. al. 2011) in which the importance of the use of diachronic
criticism describes the relationship of the event and synchronic criticism illustrates the condition
and component of the particular event.

1
Evasco, E. Y. [Link] (2011). Saliksik: Gabay sa Pananaliksik sa Agham Panlipunan, Panitikan at Sining. Quezon City:
C & E Publishing.
 Internal Criticism

The except article came from the blogspot of Dr. John Palliveettil wherein he
discusses the importance of Internal and Interpretative Criticism which are
important for Historical method2.

Method of Internal Criticism

More than anything else, the process of internal criticism requires a healthy doubt and a
critical and analytical mind. While approaching a historical source, doubt is an inevitable
thing. This doubt helps the historian to find out the most reliable account of the past. The
critical approach guards the researcher against errors. The content of the document
should be critically analyzed. The document should be divided into several parts. Each
trace is separately analyzed and tested. The critical method should be applied to know
the nature of historical facts and to test their authenticity.

In order to establish the credibility of the content of a document, the researcher has to
investigate several aspects like:

The character of the document

The literal and real meaning of the text
The knowledge of the author
Competence and reliability of the author
Author’s personal connection with the event, which he explains
Author’s source of information in producing the document
The influences prevalent at the time of writing
The elements of personal bias
The elements of deliberate and intentional errors
Corroborating evidence

2
Palliveettil, J. (2020, May 19). Internal criticism. Retrieved from
[Link]
Positive and Negative Interpretative Criticism

Internal criticism involves two operations:

1. Positive interpretative criticism

The aim of positive interpretative criticism is to understand the literal and real meaning
of the document. Words have two senses: literal and real. The literal is the grammatical
meaning of the word i.e. "according to the letter". But words are not always used in the
literal sense alone. The word may be used in a figurative or metaphorical sense also. The
real sense of the word is the significance attached to it by the author or witness.
Therefore, one should read the meaning of the word in letter and spirit. Again the
language of a people never remains static. It changes from generation to generation and
so an understanding of the idioms of the time of the document's origin is quite essential.

Familiarity with the language, linguistic usage, manner of writing and style, changes in
expression, etc. are necessary to understand the literal meaning of the text. Similarly, the
real meaning concealed in the text must be detected. The real meaning must be separated
from the hidden meaning, as grain from the chaff. The researcher should determine the
literal sense and the real or the inner meaning of the contents of the document under
scrutiny. In short, internal criticism is intended to extract the real meaning of the text
from the literal meaning. Its purpose is to know what the author really means by making
a particular statement.

2. Negative interpretative criticism

The aim of the negative interpretative criticism is to determine the element of truth
contained in the text. Historian sometimes comes across documents that contradict each
other. Hence the need for eliminating statements and facts which are obviously wrong
and false is necessary. Negative criticism is concerned with the process of eliminating
statements that are obviously false, fabricated, or forged. It is possible that a single
statement is a mixture of true and false ideas, and accurate and inaccurate narration.

Errors may be deliberate or intentional. It may be due to several reasons. The author
might be the victim of circumstances. Social obligations, religious practices, or political
pressures would have led the author to write contrary to his personal convictions. Further,
personal preferences, prejudices, and preferences towards events or persons might have
influenced the author to deviate from the truth. Similarly, errors of accuracy occur when
the source of information is defective. The researchers may be sincere, honest, and
faithful but the information he gets may be wrong or defective due to reasons beyond his
control. He may pass on the information in good faith without knowing that it is not true.
These are committed because the historian is not the observer of events and has to
necessarily depend on second-hand accounts.
Hence, negative interpretative criticism also deals with the truthfulness of the author. It
examines the circumstances under which the document was written. It deals with the
author's official status and his place in society. It investigates the degree of subjectivity
and bias of the author. It also examines the sources of the author and his relation to the
event that he narrates. Thus, negative criticism inquires not only about the good faith of
the author but also the accuracy of the statement he makes.

ACTIVITY: Analyze this!

Make a reflection based what you had learned in Historical Criticism and review the Video
- NINOY + PEOPLE POWER: Hidden Truths The MEDIA is NOT Telling Us! by Pinoy
Monkey Pride ([Link]

MILESTONE 2: LET’S VOLT AND INVESTIGATE

Using the template/matrix below. Make sure to decide whether or not the author
influenced you in viewing the assigned event, which view is contrary to what was
originally held about it. You should defend your choice.

A critiquing session will follow after each presentation. All students may ask
questions about the presentation. Please be guided by the instructions and the matrix
given below:
Instructions.
1. Fill in the Document Information with brief answers.
2. Write on the "Observe" column the images, people, objects, activities, actions, words, phrases,
facts, and numbers that were used in the document.
2.1 Identify the document or image used in the text.
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2.2 Identify the people/historical characters that were mentioned in the text and write
the activities, actions, words and phrases that the characters did or say.
2.3 Write dates, and other important numbers within the context of the particular historical
event.
3. Write in the Think column your thoughts on the document. Specifically write:
3.1 What you think about the document. Is it telling an objective or a biased perspective?
3.2 What do you know about the events? Did the document supported your prior knowledge
about the event or is it telling otherwise?
 3.3 What do you think will be the use of this document?
4. What are other information that you wish to know or questions that you wish to be answered after
reading the document?

MILESTONE 2: LET’S VOLT AND INVESTIGATE

SECTION: DATE:

GROUP MEMBERS (Last Name, First Name, Middle Name) SCORE

1.

2.

3.

1. Who is the Author? (If necessary, give a background check about the writer)
n

2. Where and when is the document created or published?

m

I 3. Who is the intended audience of the document?

t

m 4. What was happening at the time in history when this document was created?
u

o
D

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PRIMARY OBSERVE Think Question

(What I see) (What I know and predict) (What I want to know)

SOURCE DESCRIPTION
 What type of
document is it? A
photograph or a
letter?

Sources that you can use:

● Katipunan: Mararahas na mga Anak ng Bayan ni Andres Bonifacio

● Defend Thy Honour by Fernando Amorsolo
● Rizal Kalinga Discovery
● Ang Dasalan at Tocsohan ni Marcelo H. Del Pilar
● Battle of Bud Bagsak Massacre
● Apolinario Mabini El Verdadero Decalogo
● Raiders of Sulu

This is the end of week 2 activity. Do not proceed to the next section until you
have completed all activities from the previous section.