Lecture
LTP Colloquium "Towards a general definition of trust"
- Date
- Thursday 24 April 2025
- Time
- Location
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 1.48
The Leiden University Centre Theoretical Philosophy is pleased to announce a lecture by Prof. dr. Leah Henderson, professor in the Department of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Groningen.
Abstract
Philosophical definitions for trust have mostly centred on cases of trust between two individual people. Yet public discourse is full of discussion of trust between groups, companies, governments and other institutions. I call these cases of ‘societal trust’. How should we define trust in these cases? Interpersonal definitions do not naturally extend, since they often invoke features of individual people and psychology which do not apply to the societal cases. I will propose a definition of trust as the act of relying in an unquestioning way. I argue that this definition applies well to both to interpersonal cases and to some key cases of societal trust, including the case of trust in science. It is therefore a promising candidate for a general definition of trust.
All are welcome!