From Trust to Trustworthiness

Abstract

This thesis develops a novel conceptual analysis of trust and trustworthiness. On my view, to trust is to believe others trustworthy. Given that much of the content of this analysis depends on what it means to be trustworthy, the primary aim of this thesis is to develop and defend what I call the 'normative expectations analysis' of trustworthiness. The central claim is that trustworthiness requires taking the normative expectations associated with our relationships as our reason for acting.

The key to understanding the distinctive interpersonal and social roles played by those who trust and are trustworthy lies in recognising the role these agents have in shaping their norm-governed relationships with others. On the normative expectations analysis of trustworthiness, those who are trustworthy can shoulder some of the risk associated with fostering trusting relationships by effectively signalling the bounds of their trustworthiness, and in doing so, the 'transparently trustworthy' can inspire trust. Likewise, the trusting party can shoulder their share of this burden by signalling their trust, and as a result, those who 'conditionally trust' can inspire trustworthiness.

The result is a relatively unified yet highly fine-grained analysis of trust and trustworthiness that is uniquely positioned to capture the ways in which trusting and being trustworthy are inextricably intertwined in the process of negotiating the normative landscape that shapes our interpersonal and social lives. Not only does the view avoid many of the problems that have plagued extant analyses of trust as just belief in trustworthiness, but also provides the conceptual resources to better understand what it means to trust and be trustworthy, not only in our interpersonal relationships, but institutional relationships too. Show more