Credible commitment requires evidence, not mere declaration

Evidence

Alberich, one of the pettiest figures in all of literature and opera, makes one of the grandest of commitments. Could anyone believe Alberich’s conversion, believe that his commitment will carry him through? Unfortunately, Wagner does not tell us enough to know. For all its greatness, the Ring turns on this bit of psychological nonsense. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 197

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to Hardin’s own argument about the need for observable constraints on trustworthiness, and to the reader’s synthesis with Luhmann and the doctor’s wife as guarantor.