In response to the notion that the use of internal evidence is more subjective than external and therefore less reliable, Mike Holmes says this:The claim that some methods are more “objective” than others—in particular, the view that decisions based on external data are somehow more “objective” (or at least less “subjective”) than those based on internal considerations—is largely illusory and misleading. With respect to both external and internal evidence, what counts as “data” or “evidence” is a theory-driven decision, and the choice of what data to follow is inescapably subjective. (p. 103 n. 40).Maybe he will permit me to offer a simplified version: there are no text critical conclusions achieved without human judgment.
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Michael W. Holmes. “The Text of the Epistles Sixty Years after: An Assessment of Günther Zuntz’s Contribution to Text-Critical Methodology and History.” Pages 89–113 in Transmission and Reception: New Testament Text-Critical and Exegetical Studies. Text and Studies Third Series 4. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2006.