The philosophy of trust

There is no doubt that trust is an essential matter in our social life. Through trusting, we know what others tell us. So we act based on this and on the basis of trust in their implicit promises and commitments. Thus, trust supports both cognitive and practical cooperation and represents the key to philosophical discussions about the conditions of its possibility. On the practical side, discussions of cooperation address what makes society possible – how life is not a Hobbesian war, meaning everyone against everyone. On the cognitive side, discussions of cooperation address what makes the gathering of knowledge possible – and thus the edifice that is science. The richness of this book is not limited to stating the relationship of trust with cooperation, knowledge, and social philosophy but expands to include the nature of trust and its forms, methodological issues in studying trust, normative expectations associated with trust, relationships between trust and trustworthiness, between trust and belief, between trust and reliance, the psychology of trust, the development of trust, and various speech acts that seem to "invoke" trust (especially promise, testimony, affirmation), and trust in groups and between them. In brief, this book attracts political and social philosophers as much as it attracts epistemologists and moral philosophers. It contains fifteen new articles on the philosophy of trust. These articles develop and expand the current philosophical debate on trust and will provide a reference foundation for any future work on trust. At the end of the book, I added an appendix with my translation about trust and faith in Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), discussing from a philosophical perspective Ibrahim’s trust in his Lord during his test of sacrificing his son (peace be upon him). I found this contribution among the best contributions to the subject of religious trust and it covers an aspect that the editors of this book did not address. It is necessary to congratulate Paul Fokner and Thomas Simpson on this excellent volume on the subject of trust, which came at the right time (when discussions about it are increasing). The book covers a comprehensive range of aspects, from the social and political dimensions of trust, and the ethics of trust, to the epistemology of trust. It gathers some prominent figures in this subject, along with those who are less known. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested, even casually, in the nature of trust. From the reviews of Sanford C. Goldberg, Notre Dame Philosophical