Carolyn McLeod (Western University) will give a talk entitled “Trust and Belonging,” for McGill University’s Philosophy Colloquium Series, directed by Stephanie Leary.

Abstract

Philosophers have long recognized the value of trust for cooperation. They understand that being able to trust one another allows us to do what none of us could do singly, and to do it efficiently, without constantly having to check up on one another. Some philosophers have argued that the very concept of trust exists because of our need as human beings to cooperate—that its genealogy lies in this fact about us (see Jones 2017, 2012; Simpson 2012; Faulkner 2007). I argue in this paper that the genealogy of trust is more complicated than this picture suggests. According to the view I defend, the concept of trust came about because of the human need for belonging as well as the need for cooperation.