Trust is vital in our practical and theoretical lives. We know by trusting what others tell us, and act on the basis of trust in their promises and implicit commitments. Trust is rationally assessable. It is also embedded in a nexus of rich moral concepts.

When I trust and am trustworthy, I show my respect for others. We think trustworthiness obligatory and praiseworthy. We might restore trust by forgiving those who betray us. This awkward conjunction is the starting point for philosophical reflection on trust.

Despite its clear importance, there has been relatively little philosophical reflection on trust when compared with that on similarly important concepts, viz. knowledge, justice or meaning, and when compared with the attention given to trust by other disciplines. Trust raises questions that are intrinsically interesting and important for a variety of other fields. Within philosophy, applied ethics is the most obvious of these, but others include political philosophy, social epistemology, the philosophy of religion, and the philosophy of science. The topic is similarly central across the social sciences.

See my Research page for further details.