External and Internal Critique

External and Internal Critique
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External Critique
According to Kauppinen, there are two main forms of critique. These are external and
internal. The two forms of critique can be used to influence change in a behavioural or social
norm in the society. The first form involves using the standards that we have ourselves. This
form does not consider the standards that are shared by the society. This disregard explains
why it is referred to as external critique. External critique can take two main forms. The two
main forms are dependent on how the society generally regards the values the standards that
the critiquing person is using1. The first form of external which is also regarded as the
weakest is simply based on our existing norms. For instance, it is generally accepted that
women should not be forced to wear veils in modern societies. As a result of this, countries
that practice this should stop forcing women to wear veils without their willingness. There
are several advantages that are associated with this kind of external critique. The first
advantage is that it will generally follow what is generally accepted to be good in the society2.
For instance, forcing women to wear veils is a discrimination of human rights. In addition, a
person using this form of critique would argue that such barbaric practices as female genital
mutilation should be stopped despite any cultural implications.
Another advantage of the critique that is based on social norms is that it is likely to
get the support of most people in a society3. If a person endeavours to change certain
behaviours in a particular society, social norms would be a great way to help them achieve
their endeavour. For instance, before, the 19th amendment of the constitution of the United
States, women did not have the right to vote. However, just before the amendment, most
citizens had adopted the idea of equality and therefore supported the idea of women suffrage.
1. Suikkanen, Jussi, and Antti Kauppinen, eds. Methodology and Moral Philosophy.
(New York, USA: Routledge, 2018). 21
2. Kauppinen, Antti. "Reason, recognition, and internal critique." Inquiry 45, no. 4
(2002): 482.
3. Hausman, Daniel, Michael McPherson, and Debra Satz. Economic analysis, moral
philosophy, and public policy. (London, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 35.

Therefore, the groups that were advocating for women suffrage before the 19th amendment
got a breakthrough because they were supporting an idea that was already widely accepted by
the society. There are several disadvantages that may be associated with using our own
standards to advocate for a change in the society. These are going to be discussed next.
One of the disadvantages of the approach of using our own standards is that it is
usually too simplistic4. The term simplistic is used to insinuate that the approach does not
consider all the appropriate factors that are appropriate for societal change to occur. The issue
of veils and women would best illustrate this. There are several factors that influence putting
on veils in some countries. A country such as Saudi Arabia is largely religious. The Muslim
religion is widely practiced5. The religion teaches that it is important for women to wear
veils. Therefore, even if it is considered generally wrong to force a woman to wear a veil, it is
important to consider the prevailing factors such as religion in order to effectively achieve the
needed change. In the issue of female genital mutilation, it is important to consider the
retrogressive cultural influences. To effectively stop the practice of female genital mutilation,
it would be important to change the cultural perspective of the people who practice it6. It is
only when all the appropriate prevailing factors are considered that societal change can occur.
As observed in the discussion above, the external critique based on standards is so
weak. To counter the weakness, there is a second form of external critique. This is referred to
as universalist external critique. Unlike the first form of external critique, universal external
critique aims to use reason and reasoning7. This form of critique appeals to norms that are
considered to be valid for a long period of time despite what people actually think about
4. Kauppinen, 494
5. Kant, Immanuel. The moral law: Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals. (New
York, USA: Routledge, 2015), 17
6. Blamey, Jonny, and Jon W. Thompson. Modern Moral Philosophy. (Los Angeles,
USA: Macat Library, 2017), 21
7. Noddings, Nel. Philosophy of education. (New York: Routledge, 2018), 14