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S1114 Trust and Cooperation

Trust is often understood as a basic requirement for any kind of cooperation, be it in the sphere of the public or in our private lives. Online shopping or medical consultation, friendship or entrepreneurial investments, the success of many of our activities depends crucially on trust and trustworthiness. Accordingly, a lack of trust must be detrimental not only to the aims and ambitions of individual agents but to society as a whole. Despite its appearance as a \'soft coin\' in social capital, trust is therefore essential for modern societies and the well-being of their members.
But exactly is trust and how is it related precisely to the advancement of cooperation? To what extent is rational or even reasonable to invest trust in other persons or even institutions, and when would distrust be in order? Is it true that suspicion breeds confidence and does that mean that cooperation can result from distrust?
A closer looks will reveal that the elusive concept of trust is tied to numerous questions of strategic behavior. But although it is often a matter of rational choice whether to trust or not, there is also a moral injunction to foster trust and trustworthiness to a society\'s benefit.\r\n

The course will start with a survey of the social impacts of trust and distrust, thereby illustrating the various ways in which social cohesion depends on trust. After introducing some basic notions of elementary game theory, the concepts of trust and distrust respectively will be studied in more detail. Finally, we will try to integrate practical applications and theoretical results within a broader ethical discussion of trust and cooperation as part of political philosophy.

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Learning Outcomes

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The course is meant to address fundamental issues in political philosophy and is designed to impart basic knowledge on strategic interaction and cooperation, understood as essential elements of social analysis.

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Required preliminary knowledge

No preliminary knowledge required, the course will be self-contained.


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Literature:
 Ken Binmore: Playing for Real. A Text on Game Theory; Oxford University Press 2007.
 Diego Gambetta (ed.): Trust. Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations; Oxford, Blackwell, 1988 (electronic publication available).
 Russell Hardin: Trust; Cambridge, Polity Press, 2006.
 Russell Hardin (ed.): Distrust; New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2004.
 Martin Hollis: Reason in Action; Cambridge University Press 1996.
 Michael Taylor: The Possibility of Cooperation; Cambridge University Press 1987.

b) Learning Outcomes

The course is meant to address fundamental issues in political philosophy and is designed to impart basic knowledge on strategic interaction and cooperation, understood as essential elements of social analysis.