We will consider three questions:
(ii) When is trust justified?
(iii) What role does trust have in obtaining moral knowledge? Can we be right to trust others' moral testimony in cases where we are unable to form an opinion directly ourselves?Handouts
Readings
Characterizing Trust, and Assessing When It Is Justified
Annette Baier, 'Trust and Anti-Trust' Ethics 1985 JSTOR
Supplementary Reading
Karen Jones, 'Trust as an Affective Attitude' Ethics 1996 JSTOR
Richard Holton, 'Deciding to Trust, Coming to Believe', Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 1994, Electronic version
Philip Pettit, 'The Cunning of Trust' Philosophy and Public Affairs 1995 JSTOR
On Trust and Moral Knowledge
Karen Jones, 'Secondhand Moral Knowledge' Journal of Philosophy 1999 (copy in psychology and philosophy library)
Suggested Essay Titles
1. Does trust require belief that it will be fulfilled? Or does it, on the contrary, require that one lacks such belief?
2. Is Baier's account of trust persuasive?
3. Can one decide to trust? If so, what does this show us about the nature of trust?
4. Under what circumstancs is trust justified? 5. Does Karen Jones present a convincing case for the possibility of secondhand moral knowledge?