6533b824fe1ef96bd1281164
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Accumulation and destruction of the trust ? : Popperian inspiration plan
Pierre Salmonsubject
Sociology of knowledgeConceptHistoire des idéesSociology of cultureEpistemologyTrust[SHS.ECO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and FinancePhilosophiePhilosophyPopper (K. R.)Interpersonal RelationshipSociologie de la connaissanceThéorieEpistémologie[ SHS.ECO ] Humanities and Social Sciences/Economies and financesTheoryConjectureConfianceRelation interpersonnelle[SHS.ECO] Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and FinanceSociologie de la cultureHistory of Ideas.description
When, following other social sciences, economists address the mechanism of trust, they typically focus on the search of a justification or a foundation for trusting, the implicit starting point of the process they have in mind being zero trust, or distrust. By contrast, the present paper, inspired by the philosophy of Popper, suggests, as a starting point for trust, an individual decision associated with what Popper calls a conjecture - that is, a kind of theory - on how the individual (potentially) trusted "functions". The conjecture requires no justification but only the test of its implications. In turn, the decision to trust or to distrust does not reflect in a mechanical or passive way the extent to which the conjecture is corroborated, a fortiori any kind of degree of belief or of probability. In the spirit of Popperian asymmetry, the paper explains decreasing trust essentially in epistemological terms but increasing trust both in epistemological terms and by the building-up of knowledge capital specific to the relation.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000-01-01 |