Trust, trustworthiness and knowledge in a digital age
Judith Simon (University of Hamburg)
For understanding the world around us, we are crucially dependent upon the testimony of others. Trusting others to know appears mostly unavoidable, yet at the same time it is highly risky: In cases of incompetence or dishonesty, we may be let down or even exploited. Hence, from a normative perspective, trust is only valuable if directed at those who will prove to be trustworthy. Unfortunately, such assessments of trustworthiness are fallible and often biased. Nowadays, digital technologies function as sources for knowledge or as mediators to knowledge providers. Understanding their role for knowledge thus is of major theoretical and practical importance. The presentation aims at shedding some light on this complex interplay between trust, trustworthiness and knowledge as well as the role of digital technologies therein.