Collective outcomes require actual motivations, not just knowledge of what is desirable

Evidence

I start with an axiom, which may be called Hume’s axiom: … This might be thought to be a tautology, and that is, just about, what I take it to be. Its content, relative to the question under discussion, is that if someone acts to further some collectively desirable outcome, then his doing so must be explained by some disposition or desire that he has (for instance, to do just that). His so acting cannot be explained merely by the fact that it furthers that outcome, or merely by his knowing that it does. It follows from this that if one wants people to pursue such outcomes, one will have to see that appropriate motivations do actually exist to produce that result. — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 184

Categorization

• DEFINE: The ‘Hume’s axiom’ principle: acting for a collectively desirable outcome requires a disposition, not merely knowledge. Core premise for the trust/cooperation framework.