Trust

Considerations of trust widely recognize trust as indispensable for human concourse, communication, and commerce. When we commonly speak of trust, we principally have in mind the trust that is given, received, and honored among individuals. Philosophical elaborations of trust likewise focus on, or give special (“paradigmatic”) status to, mutual trust between individuals. While interpersonal trust undoubtedly represents a central dimension of trust, a consideration of trust must take into view a more complex landscape to include self-trust and trust in the world. ¹ Any account of these dimensions of trust in isolation, and especially with the prevalent single-minded focus on interpersonal trust commanding much of the philosophical literature, must be deemed inadequate to the truism that “upon trust men live in the world.” To thus expand a consideration of trust is to broaden as well as deepen, but as significantly: to render more complex, our understanding of the varieties of trust for human life.