Book contents
- Trust in Medicine
- Cambridge Bioethics and Law
- Trust in Medicine
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on Usage
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The Nature of Trust
- Part III Justification of Trust
- 8 Justification of Epistemic Trust
- 9 Justification of Patients’ Trust in Physicians
- Part IV Significance of Trust
- Part V The Decline of Trust
- Part VI Perspectives
- References
- Index
- Series page
8 - Justification of Epistemic Trust
from Part III - Justification of Trust
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 August 2019
- Trust in Medicine
- Cambridge Bioethics and Law
- Trust in Medicine
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on Usage
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The Nature of Trust
- Part III Justification of Trust
- 8 Justification of Epistemic Trust
- 9 Justification of Patients’ Trust in Physicians
- Part IV Significance of Trust
- Part V The Decline of Trust
- Part VI Perspectives
- References
- Index
- Series page
Summary
Since to trust implies to run a risk, you may want to make sure your trust is justified before you decide to trust someone. In this chapter, the authors examine the justification of trust in the information we receive from others (epistemic trust). They stipulate that only information which is relevant to the receiver counts as testimony. Contrary to this, irrelevant information, arguments, and the provision of pieces of evidence do not count as testimony. By resorting to the concept of street-level epistemology, that is, by shifting from the truth content of a statement to the content relevance (i.e. relevance to the receiver of the information), it is possible to justify epistemic trust. Between the extreme positions of complete rejection and almost a priori acceptance of epistemic trust, the authors argue that it is responsible to grant derivative authority, i.e. to accept testimony to p if and only if we have sufficient reason to believe that p. To determine what counts as ‘sufficient reason’ they present two strategies: ‘epistemic vigilance’ and assessing the ‘epistemic trustworthiness’ of the trustee.
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- Trust in MedicineIts Nature, Justification, Significance, and Decline, pp. 97 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019