I read an article recently by Judith Simon all about trust a reference to which is here
If, like me you are interested in this subject, what makes us trust people, how we lose trust in people and how difficult it can be to regain trust once it is lost then have a read of this article, I found it fascinating.
”Imagine a world without trust. Without trust, even the simplest actions in our lifeworld would hardly ever happen: we would never enter a taxi, never pay with coin, or believe in what our doctor says. We would not know when or where we were born and might even still believe that the sun rotates around the earth. Trust is an essential trait of our social life and our relation to our environment. Given the pervasiveness of trust in our lives, it comes as a surprise that trust has only very recently started to receive attention in philosophy. Apart from some early consideration on trust among friends, on trust in God as well as some contributions regarding the role of trust in society by Hobbes, Locke, and Hume, trust emerged as a topic of philosophical interest only in the last decades of the 20th century. As pervasive as trust appears as a phenomenon, as elusive it seems as a concept. What is trust? Is it a belief, an expectation, an attitude, or an emotion? Can trust be willed or can I merely decide to act as if I trusted? Moreover, while the intrinsic as well as the instrumental value of trust for cooperation and social life is almost commonsensical, trust always carries the risk of being unwarranted. Trusting those who are not worthy of our trust can lead to exploitation and betrayal. Yet, not trusting those who would be trustworthy can also be a mistake and cause harm. It has been particularly feminist scholars who have emphasized the Janus-faced nature of trust. How trust is defined and characterized depends strongly on the examples chosen. It makes a difference whether we analyze trust relations between children and their parents; between humans of equal power; between friends, lovers, or strangers. Trust in other persons differs from trust in groups; trust in a specific representative of the state differs from trust in more abstract entities such as governments, democracy, or society. Technology is yet another important if neglected patient of trust as well as a mediator of many human-to-human trust relations in our contemporary world. Instead of distinguishing proper and improper uses of the term trust, we should carefully attend to these different meanings of the word “trust” to provide a rich and multifaceted perspective on this complex and important phenomenon.”
