OU on the BBC: Reith 2002: A Question of Trust - Introducing trust

BBC

In preparing for the 1997 election, the central claim by Tony Blair was that the electorate would be right to put their trust in him. The electorate was convinced and he was elected. But what was it he was asking people to do? What is trust? It is more than counting on people to do what they say they will do. After all, I count on my local shop to sell me the paper but it would be odd to say I trust them. Or, to take another example, I count on the plumber to complete the job (otherwise I won’t pay for it), but it would be odd to say that was an issue of trust.

Trusting someone is more like putting ourselves in their hands; making a leap of faith that goes beyond rational calculation. Tony Blair was asking us to do that; he could not prove he would run a good government. He was asking us to trust that he would.

But why would anyone make such a leap of faith? One answer is that trusting people enables us to take advantage of opportunities we would not otherwise enjoy. If we never, ever trusted anyone, life would be fairly miserable - trust is an important part of our lives.

We look at what thinkers over the ages have had to say about trust: what is it, and why it is (or is not) a good thing? We will also look at why it is particularly relevant now: who should we trust and why, whether we trust some people too much and others not enough. As the unexamined life is not worth living, we should at least reflect on this important part of our relationship with others.