“The mirage of a trustless society”

Abstract: This chapter — part of a book about the power and danger of relying on others for knowledge — explores the concept of trust. It argues for a revival and reinterpretation of philosopher Annette Baier’s influential framing of trust as accepted vulnerability to the will of another person. Close examination of two infamous fraudsters, Bernie Madoff and Sam Bankman-Fried, shows why trust is both dangerous and ultimately inescapable. The desire for a “trustless” financial system articulated in Bitcoin’s founding document is a seductive mirage, just as it is in philosophical theories that try to hive off knowledge from normative questions. No area of human society, whether financial, technological, or epistemological, can be isolated from difficult judgments of moral character.

Bio: Regina Rini is the Canada Research Chair in Social and Moral Cognition and Associate Professor of Philosophy with research background in moral psychology, ethical theory, and neuroscience. She teaches and writes on a number of topics at the intersection of normative theory and social science. Her previously published research is mostly about the relevance of cognitive science to moral theory. Currently she is working on new projects related to the ethics of microaggression, the relationship between moral disagreement and moral agency, and the role of partisanship in political epistemology. Before coming to York in 2017, she was Assistant Professor of Bioethics at NYU. Before that she held a postdoc in Moral Cognition at Oxford University.

Attendance is free; no RSVP is required.

For more information and copy of the paper, please contact Andrew Richmond at arichmo8@uwo.ca

Light refreshments will be served post-talk.