Trust: Self-Interest and the Common Good

by Marek Kohn

Trust--whether between parents and children, merchants and shoppers, banks and investors, or citizens and their government--lies at the very heart of our relationships, our society, and our everyday lives.
This vividly written compact book reveals how modern thinkers--scientists, social scientists, and philosophers--have shed much light on the nature of trust. Beginning with some fascinating evolutionary puzzles about the origins of trust--for instance, how cooperation can evolve among individuals pursuing their own selfish interests--Marek Kohn incorporates many different perspectives from the fields of science, sociology, economics, and politics, to draw out the wider implications of trust in human society today. The book discusses trust in gods and how people have sought to reinvest this trust as religious faith has diminished; the effect of low social trust on economic development; and the loss of trust between mutually antagonistic communities, each warming itself by the flames of its hostility to the other. He shows how Communism relied on distrust, and devoted much of its energy to seeding it among its subjects, and Liberal democracy is also based on distrust, but in the
opposite it is founded upon the suspicion that the powerful will be tempted to abuse their power, and so must be subject to checks and balances. Perhaps most important, he shows that if we understand what makes trust possible, and why it matters, then we will live better lives in a fast-moving, fast-changing, global society.

Genres: Science, Philosophy

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2008

About the author

Marek Kohn is a British science writer on evolution, biology and society.

Reviews

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The topics of what is trust and where does trust come from are worth exploring. There are some gems covered in the book, like the need to trust in being untrusting (look before you cross the street), and combatants learning to trust each other on the battlefield. The early sections on communication are interesting, as communication requires significant cooperation, but is highly suspect. But overall, the book falls short in supplying evidence. It's mostly speculative. The author is not critical enough of evolutionary theory for my taste. I find it to be too convenient, a type of post hoc argument that fits because one event happens to follow another. The author also assumes children trust parents. This is obviously not universal. Many children can't trust their parents to care for them. And addictive parents aren't always even predicable and therefore they aren't trustworthy in that regard. Kohn touches a bit on cultural differences in trust, but overall has no meaningful explanation for why some are more trusting and others less, or why we trust in some situations and not others--other than we trust people we perceive to be like us. Even this idea goes unexamined. He may be mistaking cultural rules of coordination for cooperation and trust.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kohn's slim volume studies the philosophical, biological, historical, economic, and political roots and implications of trust. He starts at the individual and moves outward through relationships between individuals, families, clans, social organizations (including criminal ones!), and nations. The volume introduces concepts like thick and thin trust, inequality, and the transaction costs that arise from lack of trust.

Kohn is an efficient writer, providing short and understandable explanations of deep philosophical concepts, and moving through his topics with few wasted words. This would be a great starting point for discussions of current affairs, politics, and social problems where we might be attempted to assume (unthinkingly) the presence or absence of trust and the cost or value of establishing it. Understanding the role of trust in these issues may be an essential ingredient in addressing them.

[Peter Geyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim book looks at what "Trust" entails, individually and societally, from what is involved in sending a child to the local shop to but something, to broader issues around who and why people might trust some people and not others.

It's well-written, speculative in the general philosophical fashion, includes a number of observations by the author, not all of which found agreement, and ultimately suggests that we are more likely to trust people who look like us, maybe think like us as well.

I found this claim challenging and thought about it a lot in the months that passed dipping in and out of this book (I think it's probably better read in a much shorter period of time). This was not because I didn't think it was true or likely, but because it made me think about my own feelings and behaviour as compared to a lifelong personal principle that all people are equal: race, colour, sex or creed notwithstanding. I found that sometimes my initial feelings were not necessarily in accord with this principle, which I still hold. I get on better with outsiders, experiencing myself as an outsider in a particular way, so this was a challenge that I wouldn't have encountered had I not read this book.