The Philosophy of Trust

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Trust plays a vital role in the lives of humans as it is the pathway to founding and maintaining a good, morally mature society. Whether it is trusting another in team sports, friendship, or just for help and guidance, trust is able to increase the strength of the bond between any amount of people. Although we rely on our trust for another to see through to a desirable result, we are in fact risking what we are entrusting to another, and it is probable that our trust is taken advantage of and lead to betrayal. Why this is the cause and what action should be taken to minimise betrayal has been explored by many philosophers such as Plato, Thomas Hobbes and David Hume. Annette Baier (1929-), defined that “Trusting can be betrayed, or at least let down, and not just disappointed” (1986, p. 235). An example being we can rely on our clock to give the time, but we do not feel betrayed when it breaks, thus, we cannot say that we trusted it; we are not trusting when we are suspicious of the other person, because this is in fact an expression of distrust (McLeod 2006) Since trusting requires one to remain vulnerable to another, in that the trustor is letting the trustee look after a valued possession of the trustor, there is the risk that the trustee will not follow through. What hinders the trustee in actually taking the action of betrayal lies in human nature. In his book, ‘The Republic’, Plato (427-347 BC) proposes that it is in the nature of man that fear of detection and punishment can prevent him from exploiting the use of evil for self interests [ref], a view also supported by Hobbes. This is an ideal criterion where one should only trust someone if they have that fear. Since the trustee fears the punishment that will be placed up... ... middle of paper ... ...hat a supreme dictatorship is to rule the society, and is the nature of the people of the society really so egoistic. On a lighter view of human nature, opposing Hobbes, David Hume (1711-1776) believed that man is motivated by his sympathy to loved ones, friends and partial friends. It is understandable that there is trust in that no family members would kill each other because they love each other. But this kind nature leads man to act coldly to strangers in order to protect the ones he loves. Since people protect their loved ones, it’s natural for them to become enemies to enemies of their loved ones. Even so, in ‘A Treatise of Human Nature’, Hume encouraged people to sympathise and love not only everyone who they already loved, but others also. This way, war can be prevented without the use of drastic measures such as Hobbes suggestion of an absolute sovereign.

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