Trust: Who or What Might Support Us?

Contents

v contents Instead of a Preface vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Objective and Literature 3 Some Preliminary Observations 4 p a r t i : Varieties of Trust and Distrust 7 1. Trust 9 A First Approach 9 ■ Turning To 11 ■ A Note on Distrust 13 ■ Kinds of Trust 14 ■ You Are Trustworthy 15 ■ Who Is Trustworthy? 17 ■ Risk and Freedom 18 ■ Habits 19 ■ Reciprocity 21 ■ Evaluation and Decision 23 ■ Independent and Free 25 ■ Vertical and Horizontal Relations of Trust 26 ■ Asymmetry and Equality 28 ■ Functioning in Society 29 2. Entrusting 33 Speaking About and Speaking To 35 ■ Toward an Ethics of Trust 39 ■ Entrusting or Accepting? 44 p a r t i i : What and Whom Can We Trust? 47 3. Trust in the Society 49 Whom Can I Trust? 50 ■ Can We Trust Our Society? 51 ■ Trustworthy Constitutions? 54 ■ Social Trust as Hope 58 4. Counting on Nature 60 Mother Nature 60 ■ Modern Technology 64 vi Contents 5. Self-Confidence 68 Can I Trust Myself? 68 ■ Can I Trust That I Will Live Well? 71 ■ Which I Gives the Answer? 73 ■ Choosing 75 ■ A Few Theses about Trust and Dependence 77 ■ Humility or Arrogance 79 ■ Can I Trust My Orientation? 81 p a r t i i i : Trust in Philosophy and Religion 85 6. Trust in Philosophy 87 Descartes’s Program of a New, Certain, and Autonomous Philosophy 89 7. Trust in Search of Insight 98 Faith and Belief 99 ■ The Religious Relation 100 ■ Faith and Reason 104 ■ Trust in God 107 8. Trust in God or the Universe? 109 Education in Traditions of Basic Trust 110 ■ The Fading of Religion in Western Culture 112 ■ Naïve Trust and Critical Distrust 116 ■ Is Happiness Possible? 119 ■ Good and Evil 121 ■ Death 124 ■ Evil 130 ■ Guilt 133 ■ Suffering 135 ■ Does Our Universe Deserve Trust? 148 ■ Religion-based Trust 151 ■ Does Religious Faith Justify Trust? 152 ■ Faith in God as Trust 156 ■ Atheist Trust and Distrust: Did God Become an Idol? 160 ■ Other Gods? 164 ■ Is There a Philosophical Way to God? 165 ■ Atheism and Trust in God 167 ■ Atheist Praxis 169 ■ Christian Praxis 173 ■ Guilt and Pardon 176 ■ Agnostic Suspension and Trust in Loving Hope 179 Notes 183 Index 189 ...