Research Group
in Analytic Philosophy

Abstract

A trustworthy person keeps her commitments in line with the facts, ensuring that her promises are kept and her assertions are true.  In the best case scenario, we choose which commitments to incur, then choose whether to fulfil them.  But often we are not in the best case scenario, either practically or epistemically, due to our social and material circumstances.  For example, we may lack insight about how commitments are incurred ‘around here’, or be pressured into taking on more commitments than we can safely fulfil.  And the more precarious or opaque our environment is, the harder it is to rely upon our own future actions, or even guesstimate the costs of fulfilling commitment.  In this talk, I will explore these obstacles to trustworthiness