Some critical scholars date Daniel to the Second or Third Century BC because they believe that some prophecies attributed to him were characteristic of the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the assumption is that the book must have been written before his time (175-164 BC). Some arguments that are against the traditional dating of Daniel are found in linguistic studies. They are based on loan words that were thought not to be in existence in vernacular at the time Daniel was being written. The assumption of a later date is the presence of a diversity of languages that is evident in Daniel. Evidence from eight copies of manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls indicated that the oldest one dated about 125 BC. All these assumptions inform why some critical scholars to date Daniel to the Second or Third Century BC.
The late dating of the book of Daniel can affect our understanding on the accuracy of the book since all its prophecies would seem to have occurred after the fact. In a sense it makes it difficult to trust the authorship of the book since its contents seems inconsistent with the happenings at the time. A late dating makes the books predictions to be too accurate to be authentic.
However, arguments for an early dating are derived from the Bible indicating that the book was dated at around the Sixth Century BC. It is supposed to be the original dating which is one of tradition based on the internal dating of the book (Daniel 1:1). The book is considered as being part of the Jewish Canon. The authors of the book seem to be fluent in the Aramaic and Hebrew languages which were not present in by the Second Century.
Work Cited
Book of Daniel. The Holy Bible.