Trust, Distrust and Commitment

Trust is intriguing. Trust is valued—the alleged crisis of trust is a famine not a flood—yet misplaced trust can be dangerous. Trust is needed when we lack knowledge, yet we have most trust in those we know best. Trust bestowed can be both an honour and a burden; distrust is rarely welcome. Practical reasons to trust can outstrip the evidence, yet counter-evidence can make it impossible to trust. Recent philosophical work on trust has emphasised its importance to both epistemology and ethics, asking whether reasons to trust someone must be based on reasons to think her trustworthy (e.g. Hinchman 2005, Faulkner 2007, McGeer 2008, Hieronymi 2008). But this work, and the literature it builds upon, is curiously lopsided. To understand trust, we must also understand distrust, yet distrust is usually treated as a mere afterthought, or mistakenly equated with the absence of trust. In this paper I offer an account of both trust and distrust. Roughly speaking, to trust someone is to rely upon that person to fulfil a commitment, whilst distrust involves an expectation of unfulfilled commitment. Whilst I advocate this commitment theory, my main concern is to demonstrate the importance of providing a unified account of both trust and distrust, either through commitment or otherwise. We need to understand both trust and distrust if we are to understand the different ways in which trust can go wrong, the reasons why both trust and distrust are sometimes unwanted, the nature and limitations of trustworthiness, and the difference between unpredictability and untrustworthiness. I will adopt two common assumptions. First, trust is primarily a three-place relation, involving two people and a task: you may trust me to look after your children, to keep a secret, or to tell the truth (Holton 1994, Jones 1996, Hardin 2002, Hieronymi 2008). We do sometimes speak of simply trusting someone, and I will discuss this generalised trust in section 7.2.. Second, trust involves expectations about both competence and willingness: when you trust me to look after your children, you take it that I am capable of childcare, and that I will exercise that capability as required. Following Annette Baier, philosophers usually distinguish genuine trust from mere reliance (Baier 1986, 234; Hieronymi 2008, 215; Holton 1994, 2–3; Jones 1996, 14; Jones 2004, 4; McLeod 2002, 2002, we rely upon we do not the trust we sometimes can be not to misplaced trust from to misplaced I trust you to look after a yet you I may and will be in I may an that I rely on a to the yet the the I will be it be to the or to an from can be upon are in which people are upon you to work, and the to you do this not to your I rely on you to my I that you will do and I make But this reliance not to you me if you the and I not to if I on as a be with if in not trust (Baier 1986, to people are sometimes also in this is a between trust in a which can be mere But trust from mere reliance with we of trusting a to a distinguish two of and or and 2007, trust from mere I will with the and whilst that we can the of trust mere on a which is not in is trust, not mere is a mere is to is from mere is to be to and in it is a in the and in the of is person is simply someone can be upon to or to is in in need not to when you you do not demonstrate trustworthiness, and you demonstrate if you of trust to this between trust and mere But it is a to trust distrust. is not mere absence of I rely upon the to the the reasons I do not trust the But do I distrust is not mere absence of trust. distrust is not mere absence of trust, distrust has a between trust and mere reliance in different to misplaced trust and misplaced reliance the between distrust and mere in different to misplaced distrust and misplaced I that I have and In if I take my to be that it is after not be I on an not to not upon people need not to have me in I do not rely upon to me But it be wrong, to that I distrust my in this have not to me and is that do me I to be I need not about my not to rely on it be me to in that I have my to me or to my Whilst I do not rely upon my to me it be to distrust in this can after be to me trust distrust in this is the in which I rely upon you to my trusting you to do and not if you I do not rely upon my to me I do not distrust in this the that do not me not of untrustworthiness. distrust is mere as trust is as we distinguish from mere we distinguish from mere do not me are in this not as is a between trust and distrust, is a between and the trust distrust, are trustworthy not simply the of be I will the philosophers have trust from mere I have distrust from mere But is it to rely upon someone to do I will adopt that to rely on someone to is to on the that will this can of that will it is with that will not (Holton is not a of its are not is sometimes a of In this on someone to do your in can rely upon me to the whilst of you to on the that I will of and this the you reliance in this or this is of I this someone with to involves not upon her to upon her not to distrust not of involves not on a on the are to about of of and the that are sometimes when I need your it may make difference whether or not I the that you if I do not have to I am the that different of trust. of between reliance and can be to distrust trust, as I philosophical of trust are to the difference between trust and mere also to the difference between distrust and mere is a and a why an account of trust also an account of distrust. the and expectation be that the two are in an account of trust when trust is and when it is In a trust may be either distrust is or trust distrust is will of and when trust is But on the difference between trust and mere distrust as an Trust is to this with a of the of the I trust you to look after my I rely upon you to do and I take it that you have the of after my about the of In this I will of trust the nature of distrust. I account of trust a will on those Hardin and Jones are and in the literature Jones a different account from on the and Hardin that when we trust someone, we the to her has an in or her with In trusting you to look after my I take it that you will do you have my in the your after the is in your In when I rely upon the to the I do not have expectation about the or I it has an of that the and competence of will to the of with with the expectation that the will be and the that we are on it is that be an not a that the and trust, are not to the to on her a between genuine and about the we distrust to a the of the must go the to lack the lack the do not and do not of we do not distrust when we not to rely upon is in the do not me I do not rely upon to me I know that have not my in and I am not about in the not me to distrust my are not and if do me with I about not trust distrust is in this if distrust is a of a the this must go the to lack distrust involves the to of will or the to have an in why we do not distrust are not and why I not distrust my are not to me But expectation of will expectation of to my is distrust. someone and to her be if not to either or will to and not about are expectations distrust, in with that a person to have me my I rely on this person to I know that me and is to my But my to her to distrust, is and in her that I trust that I do not have to distrust the between distrust, and not in her if to be I I need not about my of I have not the the of and I have that account of trust can distrust and this reasons which to Hardin and Jones take to distinguish genuine trust from mere But about distrust in either genuine trust or genuine distrust is a either or that trust, distrust, and to the Hardin and Jones to think of distrust as a of lack of trust 2002, Jones 1996, also McLeod 2002, we about the is it about the the and which that are not of either trust or distrust in the that trust is not in is that trust or distrust is of trust do not the the difference between distrust and But do not the In this section I will discuss account of trust in and that whilst can be to distrust, are in I think that the difference between trust and reliance is that trust involves a the person you are trusting trusting someone is of as a But if this is it it is that we do not the as an or when you do trust a you need not trust in can trust a person to do trusting to do the someone to be a in this I trust its with as and the of Holton not distrust in the also to be a we do not distrust is about this Hardin and Jones Holton is lack of to distrust. to that trust in someone is is the to which we adopt the to that But we distrust, trust, someone in a this in to that as are to the in of distrust. can to trust to distrust in a In either of trust and distrust be an Trust involves of why someone not to be to do not to But that not to be in that trusting someone to do is to do can be an that my do after to me do not or my trust in this to me a not to as and not to me if to the are most of after my are me to know that have my and that me yet to an of trust between it in the most trusting that I my and to rely on if I I do not my to make this a of trust. 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