Trust: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Hawley Katherine

Author:Hawley, Katherine [Hawley, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2012-08-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Knowledge and expertise

Honesty and good intentions are not enough: in trusting, we also seek competence. If I trust what you tell me about where to find a reliable builder, I trust that you are honest, but I must also trust that you know what you’re talking about. If I trust you to look after my pets when I’m on holiday, I trust that your intentions are good, but I must also trust that you know how to look after a Great Dane and a Siberian hamster.

The knowledge aspect of trust is often less morally fraught than the honesty aspect of trust. Discussions of the ‘crisis of trust’, in politics or elsewhere, usually focus on doubts about honesty, or good intentions, rather than doubts about skill or knowledge – we might worry about the (in)competency of our politicians, but are less likely to express these worries in terms of trust. After all, someone who makes an honest mistake is more readily forgiven than someone who deliberately deceives us or knowingly lets us down. But such tolerance has its limits, and those who assume positions of responsibility are obliged to maintain the requisite levels of expertise.

Estelle Morris resigned from her position as UK Minister for Education in 2002, saying that she did not have the right skills for the job, and that ‘second-best’ was not good enough for such a crucial role. Her resignation followed a sequence of crises and problems, but nevertheless she was widely applauded for her honesty and integrity. If we can trust what she said about her reasons for resigning (and that’s a further question), Morris was displaying impressive trustworthiness: recognizing that she was not able to meet the commitments of her job, she stepped down from the job, rather than live with unmet commitments.

Does trustworthiness always require expertise? Not necessarily. We can be trustworthy in areas where we know little, so long as we know our limits. If you don’t know how to cure cancer, that by itself doesn’t make you untrustworthy. But if you don’t know how to cure cancer, yet you confidently start dispensing advice about this, then you make yourself untrustworthy. Likewise with pet care: you can be trustworthy even without knowing what hamsters like to eat. But you shouldn’t offer to take care of any hamsters unless you know what they like to eat (or can readily find out).

Trustworthiness is a matter of meeting commitments, and this requires both good intentions and competence. Part of being trustworthy is trying to avoid commitments you are not competent to fulfil, as well as trying to fulfil the commitments you already have. It’s an awful feeling, being trapped with a commitment you know you can’t live up to, especially when the stakes are high, and others are depending upon you. Such experiences can – or should – make us think twice about the promises we make in the future.

This means that self-knowledge is also required for trustworthiness. Being honest with ourselves about what we know,

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