Trust, Vulnerability, and Monitoring

Abstract

Abstract Here are two perennial questions in the philosophy of trust, both of which concern the relationship between trust and vulnerability: Vulnerability Question: In what sense does trusting essentially involve subjecting oneself to risk of betrayal? Monitoring Question: In what sense is monitoring for risks of betrayal incompatible with trusting? These questions have traditionally been pursued independently from one another in the philosophy of trust. It will be shown that they are much more closely connected than has been appreciated. The central objective will be to demonstrate how a performance-normative framework can be used to answer both the Vulnerability Question and the Monitoring Question in a principled way, one that reveals a deep connection between not just the questions themselves, but also between the concepts of vulnerability, monitoring, and de minimis risk.